Second Chances
by iamtyping98
Summary: Shifu,Po,Tigress,and Mantis are on a quest to retrieve the legendary Dragon Stone. Except they don't know how to get there. And when they bump into Shifu's old best friend, she really makes things nuts! In the mean time someone is trying to take over China. Don't you just hate it when that happens? ShifuXOC sort of... . T for safety.
1. Chapter 1

It was dark. A large, full moon shone through the darkness, casting its gentle light onto the prison.

In the nearby bamboo forest, a tiny figure dressed in black from head to toe, stood and waited.

_Come on, come on. _The thought bounced through her head as she crouched down getting into position.

The guards had been there all day without breaks. They were tired. Slowly, ever so slowly they nodded off.

That's when she moved in.

She had done this before. The province where she lived had a justice system all its own. Instead of being put in prison because of tax problems, you were taken in and put to death the next day.

Or at least that's how it was before she came. Her emerald green eyes pierced the dim light as she silently moved forwards. It was all very simple. Wait for them to go to sleep and then slip in and slip out with the prisoners. Some people would wonder, Why the risk? The answer was a simple, Why not?

She quickly scaled the wall and landed silently on the other side. She twitched her long fluffy tail. No one there. Good. The prison guards may have been good at fighting, but they were just as good at being unbelievably dense. Didn't they ever learn?

She silently dashed towards the door that led to the cells. She slipped both her tiny, gloved hands forward and pushed on the large handle. Locked… No matter. With one sharp punch to the top, the inner mechanisms broke and released.

Easy peasy. She carefully pushed through the door and craned her large ears around in a circle to check for any stray members of the resident crew of meatheads. _None. Perfect!_

The figure crept silently down the hall checking cell after cell. _Empty, empty, real convict, real convict, empty… There!_

She'd spotted him. An adult pig in his late thirties lay on the floor of the cell sleeping. As he slept, tiny whimpers escaped from his dreams into the night.

"_He's not used to this,"_ she thought as she broke this lock as well. It was funny; as many times as she had managed to make a break in/out, the only defense they ever had was just putting on new locks. Pathetic really, but then who was she to complain?

After opening the door as quietly as possible, so as not to waken any of the people who were in here for a good reason, the figure reached forward and gently shook the pig's shoulder.

He awoke with a start, close to crying out before she placed a hand over his mouth.

"Sssshhh," she whispered through the mask that covered her head. "It's okay."

The pig, who had appeared apprehensive at first, quickly relaxed and nodded.

The woman silently turned around and led the way through the open door, down the hall, and out into the yard. She then motioned for him to follow her towards the wall. When they reached it, she silently instructed him to grab her tail and hang on as she went back the way she had come.

She dropped to the ground and caught the pig as he followed her.

_Snap_

Uh-oh

The figure whirled around and found herself nose to horn with a large rhino. He had friends too. Hmm, perhaps they had learned a thing or two.

"_Oh crud,"_ she thought. She soon shook it off though. These guys still didn't pose much of a problem.

She leapt forward and grabbed one of the thugs by his short tail. She then used him as a weapon and slammed the other four against the wall. They shouted and tried to get up, but there would be none of that. She easily leapt forward and knocked them all out two by two (who says making them knock each other out is old fashioned?), and then looked for her companion. In the shortly lived chaos she had lost him.

"_Psst."_ She turned toward where the sound had come from. _Ah, there._ During the assault he had fled to the forest and was peeking out from behind a tree. If she hadn't been keeping quiet, she would have applauded. A large number of the people she helped to escape, instead of being sensible and getting out of the way when the rare problems occurred, did the exact opposite and made everything harder for her. It was nice to see some cooperation.

She dashed over and then led him through the forest as quickly as his short stubby legs would allow. When they were out of the bamboo, she then took him through a few small villages, and down many winding paths. The stranger finally slowed down to let him catch his breath.

"I-*pant*-don't-*gasp*-mean to be rude-*wheeze*-but who are you and-*cough*-where are you taking me-*hack*?

She turned and looked at him. In a calm voice she replied, "To your new home."

Now he looked _very_ concerned. "Wh-what? But I-I-I have a family! What will happen to them? They need me!"

Though the man couldn't see it through her mask, she was smiling. She couldn't help it. Her own father had never been there for her. In his defense, it is rather difficult to be there for your twin daughters when you and your wife are dead.

"Calm down," she told him in an easy-going voice, as she resumed walking. "They're where I'm taking you."

"And where is that exactly?" he asked sounding less panicked but still rather nervous. He followed her breathing more easily.

"A place where other people, like you, are being protected from our so called justice system. You'll be safe; it's hard to adjust to new places, I know, but it's rather nice."

"Well all right." Having just come so close to losing his life, he felt like arguing was trivial. However one thing bothered him.

"May I at least have your name?"

She stopped, turned around, green eyes a-sparkle, and said, "Taia."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: In the words of Po: I have fans! This chapter has Shifu in it! Yay, Shifu! Enjoy!**

Silence. Absolute silence covered the valley, the palace, and him.

_Inner peace…_

Silence. It was the one place where nothing yet everything felt safe.

"_Inner peace," _he whispered; _"Inner peace."_

Silence-

_CRASH! SLAM! BOOM! _

"PO!" Tigress shouted.

"So much for silence," Shifu sighed, as he rose his feet to see what was going on now.

The grand master had been doing his usual meditation in the yard outside the training hall. The sound had come from the barracks, which was where he was now headed.

"What now?" he asked himself as he walked inside and headed towards the kitchen.

"Will you guys just knock it off?" Tigress shouted again. Monkey and Po had gotten into an argument and were now sparring in the kitchen, which, as you may have guessed, wasn't recommended.

"Take it back man!" Monkey cried, as he launched himself at Po.

"No way! You know it's the truth!" Po shouted back as blocked and hurled monkey away from him.

"What's going on?" Shifu asked, as he entered the kitchen. The fight was getting increasingly aggressive, and he had a feeling something expensive was about to get broken.

Viper, who had been standing on the side with Tigress, Mantis, and Crane, shook her head and replied, "Monkey called Po's action figures dolls, Po made a comment involving fleas, and then it was all down hill from there."

Shifu rolled his eyes. Petty arguments; again! If his meditation had to be interrupted, couldn't it be for a serious reason?

Just then Po threw Monkey through the door to the kitchen and through the next wall.

"Ugggghhh," Monkey groaned as he stood up and shook himself off. He had crashed into the next room, upsetting a few floorboards. "Nice going Po!"

Po blew a raspberry, but went to see just where he had sent Monkey crashing.

"I never knew there was a room here," Po commented, as he looked around. The room was full of what can only be described as junk. Broken nun chucks, old weights, dartboards, assorted cardboard boxes, and other things littered the entire space, which, judging by the dust didn't look like it had been visited in years; maybe even decades!

"It's just an old storage space. For things that we can't use but don't feel like getting rid of," his master said, as he too stepped through the monkey shaped hole in the paper wall.

"Hey, this stuff is cool!" the panda said in his usual excited tone. He had opened a box to find a set of miniature rhino warriors.

"Hey, check this out!" Mantis called from across the room. The small, green warrior had found an incomplete set of tiny needles that looked like they had blood on them.

"Pretty." Viper had just opened up a box of silk gowns and was holding them up to get a better look. She held one up to Tigress who raised an eyebrow as she looked at herself in a cracked mirror.

"_Hmm." _Shifu thought. This place definitely could use cleaning out. The students were already done with their training for the day; have them do it.

"It is about time we did a bit of spring cleaning in here. I'd like the six of you to go through all of this and see what can be gotten rid of. It most certainly couldn't hurt if you dusted as well. In the mean time, I will be in my room, trying to resume my meditation, which was rudely interrupted."

He said the last part with a pointed glare at the culprits, before heading to his own quarters.

…..

"Sweet!"

The six of them had been going through box after box of old stuff for about an hour. So far they had decided to get rid of: a broken chair, a broken table, a music box that screeched when opened, a deck of cards with swear words on them (Mantis had said that he thought they could come in handy but shut up after a glare from the females), some rusty throwing stars, the cracked mirror, a long stick that was covered in spikes and no one could pick up, a scroll with a really long (boring) speech, and a hideous vase with a family of dead spiders at the bottom.

Po had brought his own action figures in and was making them fight with the rhinos.

"Po, could you come help us?" asked an agitated Crane. His feathers were filled with dust and he had been the one to find the spiders, so he was a bit edgy.

Po reluctantly pushed the miniatures over to the corner.

He looked around. Then he spotted a box they hadn't opened yet.

The panda reached forward and pulled it closer to his spot on the floor. He folded back the cardboard flaps and looked inside.

In the box, he found a few paper fans, some throwing stars, and a few scrolls.

Po reached in and opened up the first one.

"Hey guys? Who's this?"

The scroll showed a painting of a red panda whom he didn't recognize.

"I don't know." Tigress had joined him. "I've never seen this picture before."

The other four master set down what they were doing and came over to look. They all agreed that they had never seen her before.

"She's not too bad looking." Mantis commented.

It was true; the small woman was pretty. She had snow white fur and pink markings on her ears, tail, and around her eyes. Her pale, white, hands were tiny and matched her bare feet in daintiness. Her emerald eyes were excited and her smile mischievous. She had a heart shaped face and a fit body. She was posed on one leg with the other tucked behind her, a fan in one hand and a knife with an ornately carved handle in the other. She seemed to say, "I'm only serious when required."

"How's it going?" Shifu, done with his meditation, had arrived looking quite relaxed.

"Hey master," Po asked, "who's this?"

When Po turned the picture around Shifu's heart stopped, his eyes widened, and his ears twitched.

"_No. Not her." _

"She's no one!" He almost shouted back.

The old master then grabbed the scroll, closed it shoved it back in the box, and picked the box up in one swift motion.

"Don't ever ask me about her!" The red panda now looked livid. "Is that understood?"

Po stammered, "Yes master, but-"

"EVER!" Shifu then whirled around and dashed back to his room, where he stuffed the box under his bamboo cot.

"Why, oh why, didn't I get rid of that picture?" he asked himself aloud.

He sat on his cot and rubbed his temples, trying to block her from his mind. He'd sworn he'd forget. Most days he had. But it was difficult. She was like that. She left prints wherever she went.

"Master."

"WHAT!," he stormed.

"HONK," a frightened Zeng cried in fear. He'd seen his master angry before and it was never good.

"Oh, sorry Zeng," the master apologized. Perhaps some news would help?

"It's okay," the ruffled messenger goose replied. He pulled a message out and handed it to his master.

"It's from the Emporer."


	3. Chapter 3

The red panda looked up at the moon as she continued walking.

"Nice tonight, huh?" she asked the pig.

The pig made a noise that sounded like a cross between a growl and an 'Uh-huh'

"What's with you?" she asked him.

"Nothing; I'm just tired."

He was lying. She could tell.

"_He doesn't trust me."_ She thought.

Oh well; she couldn't blame him after all. How would you like it if one day you thought you were going to die, leave your family without protection, and then someone, out of nowhere, just saved you? How traumatizing!

Although in his defense they had been walking for a while now and he was probably reflecting on if perhaps he had stumbled out of one trap and into another.

But he needn't worry. They were there.

"Stop," she told him in a commanding but not unkind manner.

She walked over to a nearby rock wall. There didn't seem to be much to it besides the usual moss and such. However, when she reached forward and touched a spot with a rougher patch, something miraculous happened! It slid open! Never before had anyone heard of there being a hidden door which could be opened by touching a certain spot! It was amazing!

She waved the pig over and shutting the (Amazing!) door, she led him down a short tunnel that opened to a small clearing.

There the pig saw something that made his mouth drop open.

Standing before him was a large, five story building. It was old and a bit rickety, but it looked as if it could lodge at least a hundred people or more.

"Some of the prisoners have relatives that live far away who they can stay with. But the majority of them like you have nowhere else to go. So what do we do? We put them here!"

She had taken her mask off at this point, to reveal an encouraging and excited smile.

"Come on," she urged him, "you're family's inside. One of us went to get them first, before I went to get you."

As he followed her to the building, he commented "I take it you do this often?"

She nodded. "Loads of times; but not in a while. By the way, I hope you don't mind a bit of noise. There's a LOT of people here. It doubles as sort of a free boarding house for people who _really_ need a place to stay."

They had reached the large double doors. She knocked. There was a loud clamor on the other side of the door. After a minute it was opened by a tired looking rabbit lady, who glanced at the pig and said, "Third floor, fourth door to the right."

"Huh?"

The woman face palmed and said, "Your _family_!"

"Oh, sorry!" He turned to the red panda and said, "Sorry to you too. I forgot what I've been trying to teach my kids: Thank You."

He walked toward a staircase that lead upwards. The building which looked large from the outside, had narrow hallways that led to various places on the upper floors, and the hallways, staircases, and rooms were filled to the brim with people!

As the pig jostled his way through a group of former business men ("Oh yeah, well my company sold for-!") and past a pair of flirting teenagers, the woman who had said her name was Taia, turned to the rabbit and asked, "How bad was dinner?"

The rabbit groaned. She then put her hands on her hips and in a mocking voice said, "Can I have more butter? Where's the salt? Why did so-and-so get served before me? I mean honestly, don't they understand how many others there are? Not to mention the fact that we're taking care of their butts without even charging rent! Seriously, I almost threw an entire plate of tofu at that feminist from floor two, who said that I was purposefully enforcing the stereotype of women in the kitchen!"

Taia rolled her eyes. She could relate. She once had an environmentalist yell at her for using unsafe paint or something like that. She respected his opinion, but his attitude was a piece of crap!

"I know, Ming, I know. But just because they're living in a new place doesn't keep them from being people, you know. And where there are people there's wants."

"And this people_ want_ a break." Ming sighed flopping down into a nearby chair. She immediately jumped back up and pulled some knitting needles out from under her butt.

Taia's large ears picked up a long string of grumbled explicative's as she headed up the stairs to her own place.

On the way up to the fifth floor where she lived, she paced a group of arguing Russians, an arguing married couple, two goat children who were painting the wall, some acrobats, and a man who sat in a rocking chair snoring loudly and occasionally yelling random vegetable names ("CARROTS!").

As she reached the top floor, things settled down a bit. There weren't as many rooms up here and most people were usually somewhere else at this time.

She opened the door, to her apartment, stepped, inside. It was quiet; too quiet.

"BOO!" Three children jumped out from their own hiding places and shouted at her.

"How was your day?" she asked them nonchalantly as she walked past them to the living room.

"See?" The oldest of the three, a rabbit girl, age eleven said, rather self righteously.

"Did not!" Her younger brother did not like to have his sister boasting, especially when she was boasting about being right or her age, which was only two years older than his nine. Another thing he didn't like was when she called him a raccoon, when she knew full well that, like his mother, he was a red panda.

"Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!" The youngest, also a red panda, jumped and down, begging for her mother to pick her up. At four ("FOUR!") she was tiny so she took the chance of gaining a bit of altitude whenever she could.

"How's my Hope doing this evening, hmm? How's my Hopie?" her mother asked as she picked her daughter up and placed a kiss on her cheek.

"Li and Benji argued all day!" she exclaimed. Hope liked talking and giving her mother the daily report was her favorite.

"Anything I _didn't_ know?" Taia asked as she went into her own small space of a room and pulled her black robe off over her head. She wore a faded shirt and black pants underneath. She plopped down on the bed to unwrap the tape on her legs. She'd much rather be barefoot.

"There were carrots at breakfast, carrots at lunch, and I painted a picture of a carrot, and carrots at dinner, and Veggie Man keeps yelling carrots! And… Oh yeah! Benji barfed and it was _orange_!"

"Guess why?" Benji, the barfer of orange, asked sarcastically.

"Why I can't imagine how," his mother replied with just as much sarcasm. "You better now?"

"Yeah, I'm just carrotted out."

"Good. What did you do Li?"

"Just the usual; played with the kids, helped with dinner, that sort of thing."

Benji piped up, "Liar! She made kissy faces at her mirror all day!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Alright, you two! I believe it's time for certain children to go to their room, and give their mother a bit of peace!"

Taia gave them a pointed look, accompanied with a pointed index finger that was directed towards the room the three of the kids shared (a fact that all three hated).

Benji looked at his mother with his best angel face and asked, "Mommy(he hadn't called her that in a while)? Can I sleep in _your_ room? Just for tonight?"

Taia tapped her chin. "Hmm. Let me think…Nope!"

"Pleeeeeaaaase!"

For once Li decided to help her brother out.

"Seriously Mom! Please! He snores! And in the middle of the night he talks about cheese puffs!"

"Mommy said no!" Hope had decided to take charge of the situation. "When Mommy says no, she means no!"

"Well thank you Hopie," Taia praised her younger daughter. She greatly appreciated it when one of the kids took her side. She didn't argue with her children often, but when it did happen she was usually outnumbered.

"If anyone sleeps with Mommy it's me because I'm her baby!" Hope smiled and blinked her wide grey eyes at her mother. "Right Mommy?"

_Sigh._ So much for backup support.

"Bed. Now. No buts."

All three looked disappointed that they wouldn't be having one less roommate that night. They reluctantly trudged to the shared room followed by their tired mom.

Li hopped up onto her top bunk bed, Benji on the bottom, and Hope crawled into her 'big girl bed' that was only two inches off the floor.

"Alright look you guys, I know you probably want a story, but your mom is _exhausted _with a capital _yawn_! So just a quick good night, okay?"

She was practically begging. Taia wasn't exactly so tired that she couldn't wait to go to sleep; but when you share a house with about eighty other people you don't get much privacy or meditation time. This woman was _stressed_.

Which explained why she seemed so relieved to get a group okay from the kids.

She kissed each of them on the forehead and went to shut the door.

"Hey Mom?"

"Yes Benji?"

"Didn't you say something about no buts?"

"_Please, please, please no! He's stalling!"_

"Yes, I did."

Benji leaned out over the side of his bed to look up at his older sister.

"If that's the case then can we kick out Li? That's a really big butt!"

"Oh yeah! Well you're a-"

"Hey!," Taia called them to attention, then gave them a soft sweet "Goodnight."

"Night Mom/Mommy."

The red panda lady breathed a sigh of relief as she shut the door and went to her own room to meditate.

"_It's like I never meditate anymore. I mean I used to not even like it!" _she thought as she sat on the floor cross legged.

She hadn't used to need it as badly though. Unless you counted hyper as reason.

"_But then somebody always had to make me. And if Master Oogway didn't point it out to me than it would usually be Shif-"_

No! No she wouldn't think about. About him. Forget it. Forget him!

"Inner peace," she whispered into the night. "Inner peace."

…**..**

**A/N: Hey guys! Midterms are coming up so I'm gonna be off for a while. I have a question though: 1. do I have to make a new document every time I post a new chapter? If so that sucks! Anyways…I'm lovin the reviews and can't wait to see if I get more! Were any of you surprised? REVIEWS! FANS! EXCITEMENT!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: No new reviews in a while. *Sad face* Oh well! Chappie numba four! I LOVE SHIFU! *gasp* I just remembered!**

**Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN KUNG FU PANDA!**

"Are we there yet?"

Shifu sighed. Po had been asking that same question every five minutes since they had left the palace, two days ago. The Emperor's message had requested that Shifu come immediately and bring at least three students. The old master was starting to wish he had brought Crane.

"No Po," Master Tigress told the overly excited Panda. "It's still a few more miles."

"Sorry! It's just I've never met royalty before! Have you Mantis?"

The insect scratched his head.

"Hmmm... I dated an ice queen once."

Shifu rolled his eyes.

"I'm bored," Po said a few minutes later.

"Then try to entertain yourself," his weary master suggested.

"Okay." He then began to hum under his breath. Shifu didn't recognize the tune, but it was highly annoying.

"Friday! Friday! Gotta' get down on Friday!" The panda suddenly began to sing out loud.

"_PO!" _

"Sorry Master!"

Shifu sighed again. Po had to be one of the most annoying traveling companions he had ever had. The only one worse being-

"_No, no, no!" _he mentally yelled at himself.

He would not let her torture his mind!

"_Forget her!"_ he muttered under his breath.

"What's that Master?"

Uh-oh. Tigress had overheard him. He quickly searched for an explanation.

"I said, umm, err…Here we are!"

They had finally arrived at the Imperial Palace.

When they entered, the small group was quickly escorted to the throne room by one of the various servants.

The room was magnificent with a painted ceiling that one had to crane one's had back to admire and many ancient artifacts, dating back to the various dynasties that had once ruled the mighty middle kingdom.

The Emperor himself sat cross legged atop the massive, cushioned throne that was placed at the top of a large, polished stone staircase.

The four kung fu masters bowed reverently to their ruler, who was a komodo dragon. They then waited for him to address them first.

"Ah… Grandmaster Shifu! I see you have received my message!"

The Emperor had a strong, commanding voice that echoed throughout the halls and made a person feel that not standing at attention in his presence could very well be a crime in itself.

"Your Majesty. We came the moment we read it. How is she?"

The Emperor's face became tight, as if he was desperately trying to hold back a certain weakness.

"For now, my wife is fine. But she grows weaker with every passing hour. Countless doctors have examined her and they _still_ find nothing to be wrong!"

Shifu's concern went out to his monarch. However something bothered him.

"Your Majesty, please don't assume that I am being inconsiderate. The matter of the Empress leaves us all deeply concerned. However….Well I don't fully understand just what-"

"What I have planned for you here?"

"Yes!" The Grandmaster felt relieved that the Emperor had cleared up the slight awkwardness.

The Komodo dragon gave a slight grin through his worry, before rising, walking down the stairs followed by a few scribes, and heading off towards the right, indicating for the red panda and his students to follow him.

The ruler lead the way down a long corridor and into a room littered with ancient scrolls and maps.

"When my wife was first stricken with illness not long ago, I set the task upon a group of my servants, to pour through the old scrolls and see what they could dig up. Just a few days ago _this_ was discovered."

The Emperor held up a scroll that had a painting of a round stone, with a dragon carved into its surface. This dragon was a mirror image of the one that hung over the reflecting pool in the Jade Palace.

"The Dragon Stone," Shifu whispered in awe.

"The what?" Po desired an explanation.

"The Dragon Stone," the Emperor told him. "Legend has it that this stone contains in its core, the most powerful healing potion ever discovered! It is said to be able to keep you alive when an inch from death!" **(A/N: Somewhere out there, the unicorn from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone, reads this and destroys his PC.)**

"Wow," Po said now also in awe.

When his awe had finally faded, Shifu shook his head and turned to his monarch.

"But your Majesty! It has not been seen or heard of in hundreds of years!"

"Yes, yes, I know," he replied. "You think I would have called you all the way here just to show you a picture? They also found _this_!"

The Emperor pulled out a second scroll which contained a very detailed map of China. Along the side ran strange, ancient symbols that Shifu couldn't make head or tail of.

"This map is supposed to take you there! I thought if anyone would be able to read these, use the map to find the Stone, and bring it back to heal my wife, it would of course be the Grandmaster of the Jade Palace as well his students!"

Shifu looked at his monarch's face. It glowed with faith and hope; faith and hope in him.

A lump suddenly formed in the master's throat. How could he just say that because he couldn't read the symbols, he wouldn't save the Empress? Simple: He couldn't.

"I am greatly honored that you have set so much faith in us your Majesty!" He carefully and politely took the map and picture from the Emperor. "I promise we will not let you down!"

Shifu's nose twitched slightly. It always did that when what he was saying had something false hidden within it. As of the moment that something was major!

"Excellent! I assume you'll be leaving promptly?" The Emperor wasn't being rude; he did however seem eager that the four of them set out at once.

"Yes, of course! Come along." He motioned for his students to follow.

As the four left the palace, they heard a few people calling to them: "May luck go with you!"

Shifu gulped. He would need all the luck he could get.

...

Taia's eyes gently slid open.

A sigh escaped her body. For the first time in quite a while she had slept quite well.

The morning sun peaked through the open window above her bed, casting its warm glow over her room.

She sighed again and slid her eyes shut. What could possibly end a perfect moment like this?

"OATMEAL, OATMEAL, OATMEAL!"

Oh yeah.

She opened her eyes again to find Hope and Benji jumping up and down on her cot and yelling for breakfast.

"Hey knock it off! Seriously, why did I go through the trouble of giving birth to you two?"

The two kids quit jumping and landed on their butts with a thud.

Benji cocked his head to the side.

"I thought we were adopted?"

"Oh… That's right!" His mother's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Now I remember! One day a lady showed up at my door and asked if I wanted to buy some kids! So what did I do? I got myself a cute little bunny girl, then an adorable red panda boy, and topped it off with a sweet little red panda girl! _That's_ what happened!"

At the mention of herself, Hope giggled and snuggled up to her mommy. Benji however fixed his mom with a scowl.

"First of all I know that's not how adoption works! You have to fill out papers and junk! And second, I'm not adorable!"

"Would you rather I called you ugly?"

Benji thought a second.

"Yes!"

"Well ugly," the red panda lady said, happy to comply with her son's game, "you know what?"

"What?"

"However it is that I happened to end up with you," she pulled him closer and tucked him under her arm, "I'm going to hang onto you. Because, newsflash, I kind of like you!"

Benji gave his mother a (fake) astonished look.

"No way!" he cried.

"Yes way! And guess what else?"

"What?"

"I also like to _tickle_ you!"

Then a long game of tickle torture commenced, in which there was much laughter, Li came into assist her mother in the torture, and Benji laughed so hard he got into a coughing fit and to be wacked on the back.

Li then began to chase her younger siblings around the room and out into the rest of the apartment.

Taia laughed a bit. Yep, she liked them alright; all of them.

She flopped back down on the bed and thought to herself, _"What could make this better?"_

**A/N: TA DA! Now then: R&R, R&R, R&R!**


	5. Chapter 5

Po picked up a stick and stoked the fire in front of him in a rather bored fashion.

The four of them had been wandering for what felt like days. They had stopped a few times for a break, during which the three younger masters would sit for a minute and stretch their tired muscles.

Meanwhile their master would turn the map every which way, even backwards, to try and see if he could make any sense of the strange markings. If any of the students asked to look at it (*cough* Po *cough*) he would immediately roll it back up and snap that if he wanted help he would ask for it (much to the confusion of the student (panda) who was simply being overly curious as usual).

"I wish I could read the map," Po commented, desperate to start a conversation and break the never ending silence. "Then maybe I wouldn't feel like we're headed for nowhere."

"Master Shifu knows what he's doing," Tigress replied, faithful to her teacher, as always.

She looked up with a face that looked a bit conflicted and said, "However, it does seem as if we've just been walking forward with no set destination."

The two of them glanced at Mantis to see what he thought.

The insect shrugged and went back to gnawing on the piece of mushy fruit he had been eating. They hadn't had what one would call a decent meal in quite a while.

Po let out a loud yawn. They also hadn't been getting much sleep either.

The panda looked up at the sky. It was cold and clear tonight, and the stars were shining almost as brightly as the sun did during the day (or at least that was his analogy).

He looked over to where Shifu was sitting, several yards away pouring over the map once more. Po didn't quite understand why his master felt the need to stare at it constantly, but after being snapped at he wasn't quite keen on asking.

Suddenly a thought came to him.

The bear reached over and nudged his striped friend, who raised her eye brow at him, wondering what on Earth he could want now.

"So," Po said in a whisper, trying to make sure that the Shifu couldn't hear him; "Any ideas on why Shifu blew up at me?"

"You mean when you wouldn't quit asking about the map?" Mantis asked.

"No, no, no! I mean, well, yeah that was kind of confusing, but it's not what I'm talking about."

The panda leaned in closer so that his friends would hear and his master wouldn't.

"Why do you think he exploded like that when I showed him that painting? I mean I've seen him really mad before, I mean really, _really_ mad, but he seriously looked like he wanted to kill something this time!"

Mantis hopped up onto Po's shoulder and shrugged.

"I don't know, but whatever happened, I think it's safe to say that he and that chick don't get along so well."

Tigress shrugged as well and commented, "Perhaps she was an old friend who turned evil?"

Po shook his head at this.

"Maybe, but he never blows up like that when we mention Taotie, Junjie, Fenghuang, or any of those others. He doesn't even seem to get mad about Tai Lung!"

Tigress nodded a bit to show that she saw his point.

"You are right; I've never seen him lose his temper when any of them were mentioned…." She trailed off not sure what to say.

"Oh I know!" Mantis piped up suddenly. "Maybe she's like an old flame or something like that!"

"Shifu?" Po sputtered with laughter. "An old flame? Come on Mantis that's nuts! Shifu hardly ever even looks at girls; I'm not even one-hundred percent sure he likes them!"

"Mantis has a point though," Tigress said, "If she broke his heart, it could lead to some sort of anger which, even though he does have inner peace, he doesn't feel like facing."

Po scratched his head, still finding it just a bit hard to believe that his gruff teacher could ever be in a romantic relationship with someone (woman or otherwise).

He looked over at his master once again, to see that the old red panda was still staring at the scroll.

"I'm going to go ask him."

Po started to get up, that is until Tigress pulled him back down, and Mantis jumped from his shoulder to his nose and got straight in his face.

"Excuse me, but do you have a death wish?" the small green warrior inquired.

"He told you, no _commanded_ you not to!" his female friend added, not in the mood to see her fuzzy black and white friend be ripped to shreds by their teacher.

"Oh come on guys! He won't get _that _upset!" Po stood up and began to walk in the direction of his master.

The panda suddenly stopped and turned around, nervousness in his jade green eyes.

"Wait, will he?"

His friends shrugged, feeling that trying to stop him was useless.

Po turned back around and continued over to where Shifu was sitting.

The old master was muttering under his breath; "This one must mean ocean…No wait river! No, lake!"

The master suddenly slapped his palm to his forehead.

"_Why did I agree to this? Why am I always too proud to ask for help?"_

He thought this while rubbing his temples, just as Po plopped down next to him.

An awkward silence settled over the two, as Shifu rolled the scroll back up and then just sat there for a few moments.

"Soooooooo," Po stated, trying once again to get a conversation going.

"Yes," Shifu asked. What did he want? "How may I help you, Dragon Warrior?"

"Oh you know, I was just kind of thinking a minute ago."

"An excellent practice." It wasn't meant rudely; however Shifu did wish the panda would go away.

"And what were you thinking about, exactly?"

"Exactly? Oh I don't know, I mean I think about a lot of stuff! My heads kind of big so you know…Plenty of uh… Of thinking room up there, you know."

"Yes I know."

"You sure? 'Cause uh not to be rude or anything, but your heads kind of small." Po was stalling a bit.

"Yes Panda I know."

"_What I don't know is why you won't _go away_!"_

"I mean because seriously no offense, but your small-

"Po-

"-I mean like all of you! Except your ears-

"Po-

"-and your tail-

"Panda!"

"-and your voice!"

"PO!"

"You see, just like that! Now _that_ is big!"

Shifu, who at this point had gotten up and was shouting, plopped back down in the dirt and rubbed his temples, once again thoroughly amazed at how dense the panda could be at times.

"Po," Shifu said, trying desperately to keep calm, "_what_ do you want?"

"Well I-

"Spit it out already!"

The old man was done with being patient right now. He was tired, hungry, cold, in danger of not being able to save the life of his monarch's wife, and to top it off he had cut his foot earlier. He was not in the mood for listening to the ramblings of a babbling buffoon of a bear.

"Augh! I just wanted to know about the lady on that painting the other day! I'm sorry!"

Shifu stopped and stared at the Panda, his blue eyes suddenly lit with rage and his mouth going from a frown, to a furious grimace.

"How dare you ask me about that? After I deliberately told you to drop the subject! Why I ought to-!"

"Just tell me her name!" Po cried.

Shifu stopped once more.

"What?"

"I'll leave you alone if you just tell me her name! Please? You know I'm curious!"

Say her name? Her name? But…. Her name was what hurt the worst! However…If it meant the panda would leave him in peace for now….

The old master stood straight, tucked his hands behind his back in usual regal manner, parted his lips and in one quick breath said, "Her name was Taia. Now go away."

He sunk back to the ground and kept his head down. Finally, after what seemed like hours Po finally left him alone.

Shifu let loose a sigh into the cold frigid air. There; he'd done it. He'd said it. Now he could only pray to the gods that he would forget it again.

…**..**

Taia sighed. She was impossibly bored. There had been a string of robberies in the nearby village lately and she had decided to do a night watch.

However, she should have planned on their being nothing to do.

When there was no sound, her mind took over. Then she was in danger of experiencing unwanted memories all over again.

"_I never want to see you again!" ….. "I hate you! ... "_I_ hate_ you_!"_

"_We were best friends! What the heck happened?"_

She often asked herself this question; even though she knew the answer.

She had left. She had left to live with her sister, and he couldn't understand why she was leaving him. He didn't seem to comprehend how much it meant to her, to get to see her twin again after so long.

However, in going to be with one sibling, she had lost the closest thing she would ever have to another.

Now she blinked tears away from her emerald green eyes, begging herself not to cry.

"_Tears? Why tears? You hate him don't you?"_

Sometimes a shoulder devil could be a real pain in the butt; especially when the angel had clocked out for the night.

**A/N: It's getting there! Don't worry they will meet up again soon enough! Oh and mad eye's love: no their not Shifu's or her bio kids. Don't worry though; you're not the only one who's going to make that mistake ;) R&R Sorry this chapter was sort of weird during Po's conversation BTW.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kung Fu Panda, it belongs to DreamWorks. However if they ever just killed off Shifu or any other character the way Disney/Pixar did with Doc from Cars, I will hand them their asses. DreamWorks, you have been warned.**

**A/N: CRAP! I was looking back through and realized that I hadn't mentioned Oogway's staff once! Hmmm… Oh I know! In LoA Shifu carries a walking stick. Let's say he's using that! Now then ladies and gentlemen, on with the show!**

Shifu sat up and rubbed his eyes. Morning meant that he could enjoy another day of wandering around aimlessly trying desperately to figure out this God forsaken map. Yippee.

The red panda was about to call to his students to wake up, when he heard something. Like the snap of a twig. Then there came a slightly muffled grunt.

He leapt to his feet and raised his hands in a fighting stance.

"_Where are you?"_

In his mind he asked the question as he swiveled his ears.

"_There."_

Using his expert hearing skills he had pinpointed them. A group of rhinos was hiding behind a clump of trees. They carried weapons such as battleaxes; most likely guards of some sort. But what could they want?

The old master raised one hand in the air and snapped his fingers.

Instantly the three sleeping master were awake and on their feet ready to attack.

The rhinos came out from behind their trees also ready for a fight. They raised their weapons above their heads, should the warriors strike first. One of them stepped forward.

"The four of you are not from around here." It was a statement; not a question.

"We are simply traveling through here." Shifu replied calmly.

"No need for any trouble guys." Po added.

The rhinos exchanged glances. The one that had spoken before said, "Is that a fact? Well I'm sure that if it's true, you wouldn't mind coming with us?"

The younger masters looked to their teacher. He would be the one to decide.

Shifu quickly thought it over. They would most likely be escorted to a prison, where they would have to meet the head of the place. Once the prison master realized who they were he would call his guards idiots, apologize profusely, and let them go.

Perhaps he would even feel bad enough to offer up information. Information on things about symbols and who in the area might be able to read them.

"Very well," The old master replied

The guards looked shocked. A few of them scratched their rough, leathery heads. Seeing that hey didn't quite understand Shifu continued to explain.

"We'll go with you. Just please avoid the use of handcuffs and kindly don't poke us. It's rather irritating you know."

The guards looked at each other again unsure of what to do now. It wasn't every day or even every year that somebody went with them willingly.

The one they had been conversing with, who was apparently in charge said, "Well, uh, okay then. Right this way."

They walked in straight line. The head guard at the front, followed by Shifu, Tigress, Po, and Mantis riding on Po's shoulder. The other guards surrounded them on either side.

"What's Shifu doing?" Po muttered to Mantis, just loud enough that the insect could here.

Mantis hopped on top of Po's head and whispered in one of his small, black ears, "No idea man. Let's just go with it."

The old master followed behind the head guard with his head held high, but with the usual limp in his leg which he'd gotten from Tai Lung.

He greatly despised limping. It made him feel impossibly weak. However he ignored it for now and continued on.

After about half an hour of marching they had finally reached their destination. Shifu had been correct. It was a large stone prison.

The guards led them through the large front gates and into an open area and into the main building.

Before they entered Po glanced to the right. There was an incredibly frightened looking rabbit being chucked through the door that he guessed led to the cells.

The panda could have sword he heard loud frightened cries coming from the other side of the old iron door once it was slammed shut and locked.

Po gulped. He didn't like this place.

The four of them were then led up a large flight of stairs.

At the top there was an enormous door with an old brass knocker. The guards suddenly looked quite nervous; terrified in fact.

The head guard let out an audible gulping sound as he carefully reached forward and grabbed the knocker. The rhino was now sweating profusely. With another gulp he released the knocker and it hit the door with a sharp resounding thud.

"_Who daresssss dissssturb me_?"

The loud hissing cry caused Po, Mantis, and the guards to do a simultaneous gulp.

"_Well? Who isssss it_?" The hissing voice asked again, even louder this time.

"I-I-It's us sir. W-we think we m-might have n-n-new prisoner-s-s-s." The head guard was stuttering so badly, you'd think he was staring into the jaws of a monster.

Although, based on the rage hidden within the hissing voice, Shifu guessed that it wasn't far off.

"Really," the voice said, sounding a bit calmer now. "Ssssend them in."

The guard quickly opened the door, shoved the masters in and slammed it behind them.

He then wiped his brow and prayed to the gods that he hadn't just filled out his own death sentence.

When they entered the four masters looked around.

The room they were in had a high ceiling and torches, freshly lit, hung from the walls. At the back wall there sat a large, iron desk and a straight backed, throne-like chair.

"Where is this guy?" Po wondered aloud.

"Hhhhhere." The hissing voice was suddenly back. They all looked upward.

There, hanging from the rafters like a rope, was a ten foot, jet black, red eyed, cobra.

The cobra let out a long, low hiss as he traveled down a nearby column, to the floor, and up onto the desk.

"My name," he hissed, "is She Du. Hhhhow may I hhelp you?"

The snake's eyes glowed with malice like embers in a fire. Shifu had second thoughts about asking this guy for help.

"We were camping in the forest, when your guards found us. They decided that they couldn't trust us, and thus brought us here to see you." Shifu said this all very calmly as the cobra's gaze continued to burn.

Po and Mantis however weren't being terribly calm. Po was shivering slightly and Mantis had hidden on Po's back to avoid She Du's stare. Tigress stood straight as usual but was looking at the back wall and not the snake.

"I ssseee; and who exactly are you?" She Du flicked his black tongue in and out of his mouth waiting for an answer.

"I am Master Shifu."

"What?" The cobra looked furious. "Grandmassster Shifu of the Jade Palaccce?"

"Yes." Shifu replied as calm as ever. "These are my students: Master Mantis and Master Tigress of the Furious Five, as well as Po the Dragon Warrior.

"And you ssssay my guardssss had the audacccity to arressst you?"

She Du was seething and hissing with rage. He built his long body up on the desk, opened his jaws wide and bellowed, "GET IN HERE!"

The snake's voice echoed throughout the stone building, as the head guard and a few others quickly dashed in and threw themselves flat on their stomachs in front of the desk.

"Y-y-yes sir?" The head guard looked as if he was about to cry.

"WHAT ISSSS THE MEANING OF THISSSSS? ARRESSSTING THE GRANDMASSSTER OF THE JADE PALACE AND HIS STUDENTSSS! HOW SSSTUPID ARE YOU?"

The rhino whimpered, "Very stupid sir."

"You had better believe it." The cobra's voice was lowering into an angry grumble. Shifu was privately starting to wish that had simply fought the guards off earlier. It had to have been better than this.

"In all fairness, She Du, we didn't exactly tell your guards who we were."

One of the rhinos piped up, "That's true! He didn't!"

"Ssilence!" She Du slithered down his desk and looked the red panda straight in the eye.

"A thousssand pardonsss oh Grand Master. I can promise you that it shall not happen again. You may show yourselves out without any trouble I assssure you."

"Um," Po suddenly spoke up for the first time since She Du had appeared, "is there a village nearby where we can stay? We're super tired."

"Also hungry," Mantis added.

"Yess. Ssso glad you asssked. Jussst a few miless down the road." She Du looked relieved to be able to help them.

"Thank you sir." Tigress replied as she and the others exited.

"Anytime. Oh and pleassse; don't be a ssstranger."

As they left the prison, all four shared the same thought.

They would have no trouble with being strangers at this place.

…

Taia stood up and shook the grogginess from her head.

She looked up at the sky through her mask and saw that given where the sun was, it had to be at least ten.

The red panda lady rolled her tired eyes, pulled her mask off and let out a loud yawn.

She then scratched her head and looked around.

She had the perfect view from the roof where she had fallen asleep. She could see everything and no one could see her.

"_I hate falling asleep on watch," _she thought to herself. Although in the long run, she supposed it was than better somebody being robbed.

She continued to scan the village below her. People passed each other with friendly hellos and calling to one another with the usual 'Working hard or hardly working?' joke.

Things were normal; for now.

…..

"Ugh! We're finally here!" Po groaned.

"I thought that guy said it was a_ few_ miles?" Mantis said. Not having walked, he wasn't as tired. However it was hot today so he could imagine how tired the others must have been.

"That guy was creepy." Tigress stated, after plopping down on the ground and leaning back against the wall of a building.

"I know!" Po cried. "And what was with the hissing thing? I mean Viper doesn't do that!"

"Come now you three! Let's find some food and rest for a few minutes before we get back to our mission."

"Yes Master," the students chorused.

"Good," Shifu said, glad to see that they weren't so tired that they couldn't obey orders. "You three go that way and I will go this way. We'll meet back in about half an hour."

The three younger master headed in the direction their teacher had pointed.

Shifu turned and went the other way. Why did he have a funny feeling in his gut?

….

"Hmmm… I wonder who they are." Taia wondered out loud. She had just spotted a panda, a tiger, and a small insect, all of whom she didn't recognize.

"Well as long as they don't steal anything…"

….

"So Po," Mantis said casually, as three of them stopped to inspect the wares of a fruit cart, "you never told us. What exactly happened last night?"

"Yes Dragon Warrior," said Tigress, as she picked up an apple and turned it over checking for brown spots, "what did happen? We heard Shifu yelling, but we didn't hear exactly what he said."

Po shook his head.

"Guys, it was awful! I thought Shifu really was going to kill me! But, I did find out her name: Taia."

"Hmm… Never heard of her." Tigress replied as she paid for the fruit.

"Me neither," Mantis added.

"Yeah, well that makes three of us."

Suddenly there was a loud crash and a scream.

"Bandits!"

"Looks like somebody could use a little help; Dragon Warrior style!" Po cried as he and the other two whipped around to face a group of huge pig bandits.

The pigs were holding an assortment of fine china, as well as a few large sacks of money in their arms. They chuckled and snorted at Po.

"Yeah, right! Like we're going get beat by a fat panda, a puny bug, and pussy cat!" the leader taunted.

This statement got a group growl from the others.

"What if they had help?" a voice called.

The bandits and the warriors looked around for the source of the voice. Just then a short figure dressed in black, with a fluffy tail sprouting from the back, landed right in front of Po.

The figure glanced back at Po.

Po shrugged and then grinned. "Sure okay."

The person gave a sharp nod and then launched itself forward.

"Whoa!" The pig bandits cried out as the figure went beneath their feet, launching them in the air, and causing them to toss the objects they were holding in all different directions.

Mantis and Po lunged forward and caught the china before it could hit the ground and Tigress grabbed the money before it fell down a nearby well. They then quickly returned the stuff to the awaiting owners and looked back to see what was going on now.

The pigs had slammed into the ground full force and were now picking themselves up.

The person in black came racing back and began juggling two of them. They then threw the two they were juggling into the third one.

All three got up again, a bit groggy, but still standing.

Po looked and saw the person tying a rope to a large rock. They then lifted it above their head, and hurled it at the pigs.

The rock shot straight past the pigs and went on to curve around a pole. The pigs found this highly amusing; that is until the rock came circling back around, wrapped the rope around their bodies, and with a sharp tug from the figure in black, sent them sailing into the pole where all three of them were knocked out.

"Whoa… That was awesome!" Po cried.

The figure gave a sharp nod and sped off.

"Wait!" Tigress called after the figure. "We should have thanked him."

"You mean her," a nearby goat commented.

"Huh?" Mantis asked. "How do you know? Is she like a regular around here or something?"

"Oh yes," the goat replied. "She is the savior of this province. We are ruled by an evil cobra named She Du."

"Hey, we just met She Du! I knew he was creepy!" Po cried.

"Yes, before she arrived there was no hope for anyone who lived here. We were thrown in jail and executed before you could say justice. One day she arrived; and now we are once again close to being a happy peaceful province."

"Wow," Po said, clearly awestruck. "What's her name?"

The goat glanced around to make sure that no others were listening.

He then leaned forward and whispered, "Taia."

**A/N: Gaaah! That was so long! She Du is supposed to be scary but I'm not quite sure I hit the mark; although he did murder my spell check. And also yes I did do the 'they were so close' thing to you. Am I mean or what? And now without further ado I must take a nap. R&R **


	7. Chapter 7

Po's jaw dropped. He couldn't believe what his little black ears were telling him the goat had said.

"Did you say Taia?" the panda asked, genuinely surprised.

"Yes. Perhaps you have heard of her?" The goat tilted his head to the side in wonderment.

"Oh we've heard of her all right." Mantis stated also rather shocked.

"Definitely," Tigress added.

The goat then looked around a bit.

"I must leave now. Good luck with whatever it is you're doing here."

"Yeah thanks," Po said, clearly not paying attention to what he was saying.

Once the goat had left, the three of them exchanged surprised glances.

Po looked around himself, and spotted a nearby alleyway.

The black and white warrior gestured towards it, indicating for his friends to follow him. Once the three were in the small space between the two buildings, they glanced around again making sure that nobody, especially a certain red panda, was listening.

Once the coast was clear, Po spoke, "What are we going to do?"

"I don't know," Mantis said. "What can we do?"

"Yes," Tigress said. "We certainly can't tell Shifu that an old acquaintance of his, whom he has _clearly_ been trying to forget, has suddenly been rediscovered. It would upset him to no end."

"You're right." Po sighed.

"If any of us, especially you Po, open up the subject again, the odds of there being a rather violent occurrence will be very great." The striped master said this a bit eagerly, trying to get her point across.

"She's right you know." Mantis said, not one who wanted to be beaten up by anyone, much less his master.

"Guys, I know, I know you're right about this but-" Po stammered a bit, "But we can't just _forget _about this! I mean, well, what if Shifu and this lady Taia really did love each other once or something like that! What then?"

"If they loved each other, wouldn't they be together now?" Tigress inquired.

"Not necessarily! Love is super duper complicated! I mean what if they never even told each other? And then, whatever it was that happened, happened, and they've been missing each other ever since? I mean seriously! Who are we to get in the way of love?"

"People who don't want to get destroyed!" the insect master shouted.

"Yes Po, you don't know if any of this is true."

"Yes okay. Okay I don't know. But what if I'm right? What if Shifu loves her, huh? What if she loves him back? I mean from what I saw, she's pretty awesome! And based on what the goat tells us, she cares about other people. Don't you think that that's the kind of person that would make him happy? Don't you want him to be happy?"

Po had them trapped. If they said no they would be lying. If they said yes the two of them would be stuck with whatever screwy plan the panda came up with.

Tigress and Mantis glanced at each other. Mantis shrugged, admitting that their friend had a point. Tigress sighed, rolled her eyes, and covered her face with her paw.

"Whatever happens you take full credit?" she asked Po through paw.

"Absolutely!" Po said sounding a bit excited.

"I must be out of my mind," Tigress said, before removing her paw from her face.

"All right; we'll help you with whatever it you want to do about this. But! You have to make sure that we don't get sidetracked from the mission. We have to remember our main priority no matter what happens."

Mantis sighed. He could almost feel his legs already aching from the potential punishment of having to run through the training hall non-stop. Why had he allowed himself to be dragged into this?

"Sweet!" Po cried. "Oh and don't worry; I've already thought of a plan!"

"And what is it?" Tigress asked trying to feign enthusiasm.

"Okay, step one! Figure out where she lives!"

"And then what?" Mantis asked. If he was already stuck he might as well try to help.

"That's…really…all I got…so far." Po said, a bit of embarrassment showing through the pale fur on his cheeks.

Tigress sighed. "Well let's try to get through step one before Master Shifu gets back, shall we?"

The males nodded before following her back into the street.

Once back in the light of day, the three of them looked around. Who the heck should they ask? They certainly couldn't just walk up to a person and ask them where their savior was living; odds were somebody would suspect them of being spies.

Po strolled over, in what he assumed was a casual laidback fashion, and leaned against a nearby wall. He then leaned in closely to a lady rabbit, who was standing there.

"So… What's up?" he asked, in what was supposed to be a cool, yet intimidating fashion; it was of course anything but.

The rabbit lady raised her eyebrow at him. She had black fur and somewhat tired blue eyes.

"What do you want?" she asked, somewhat bitterly.

"Oh nothing; I was just wondering, where exactly in a place like this one might find out some information." Po cracked his knuckles. "Would you have any information?"

Tigress face palmed before the rabbit woman replied, "Regarding what exactly?"

"Like maybe where somebody lived? A certain lady perhaps?"

The rabbit narrowed her eyes. She saw where this was going.

"You want to know where the 'savior' lives don't you."

"I don't know… What gives you that idea?"

The rabbit sighed. "Look pal, I have lived with her ever since she saved me from prison after my husband died and I couldn't pay my taxes! She is my best friend and if you want to know where she lives just so that you can turn her in to the authorities, you've got another thing coming!"

The rabbit lady was now yelling, and Tigress and Mantis stepped forward in case Po needed help.

"Oh no, no, no!" Po said quickly, hoping to remedy the situation. "We're just hoping to know because we're traveling with somebody who we think Taia was friends with once and well….."

The rabbit calmed down considerably as Po spoke.

"Let me guess," she said, "you were hoping to maybe let them have some sort of reunion?"

"Yes, thank you!" Po said, glad that the lady seemed to understand.

The rabbit thought a moment, hoisting her large bag up, so that the strap would stay put on her shoulder.

"Hmmm… Depends… What's this person's name?"

"His name is Master Shifu," Tigress spoke up.

The rabbit's eyes widened a great deal. "You've got to be kidding!"

"Nope," Mantis replied.

It was the rabbit's turn to face palm. Then it was also her turn to make sure the coast was clear.

"Well first of all," she said, "my name is Ming. Second the only reason why you would want the two of them to meet up with each other is if you wanted to see the New Year's fireworks early."

Mantis asked, "That bad?"

"Worse," Ming replied. "I don't know the whole story; but from what I've managed to squeeze out of her is that they had been best friends since they met when they were six, they trained together, and when she left he didn't take it very well."

"Why did she leave exactly?" Po asked.

Ming shook her head. She started walking and gestured for them to follow her.

"It's a sad story, and long too. The only reason she ever told was because she's my friend and already knows my entire history as well. But I have a feeling you're going to have to know."

Ming stopped and raised her eyebrow again. "To be honest I think she should probably meet back up with Shifu."

"See?" Po said, after glancing, braggingly at his friends. "So you'll help."

"Sure fine. But whatever happens; I had nothing to do with this."

"Deal," the panda said. "So what's the story?"

"You see when she was little, about one year old, her parents died. After that she and her twin sister, Kara, were sent to an orphanage as they had no other family. They were there for several years. One day a nice couple came along and said that they liked the two, and perhaps they could spend a bit time with them to see if perhaps they'd like to adopt. So Taia, Kara, and the adults spent the day together, playing and just spending time together. By the end of the twins were pretty excited; they thought they were finally going to have a family. However it turned out the couple were only interested in having one child and chose Kara over Taia; they said that Taia was just too pushy and that she was a little show off. Taia overheard all of this and ran away; but not after going to her sister and saying that she never wanted to see her again."

Ming stopped. They had reached the edge of the village.

"When they finally found her in a forest somewhere she had cried herself sick. They took her back to the orphanage and she stayed in her room for a month; every time someone spoke to her she would throw something or insult them. Finally one day the orphanage got tired of her attitude and sent for someone from the Jade Palace to see if they could get her to act normally. Master Oogway came and the two of them liked each other straight off. He took her back to the palace to train and that's where she met Shifu."

"Wow," Mantis said. "That _is_ a long story."

"Yes," Tigress said. "However… What does it have to do with her leaving?"

"Well many years later, decades in fact, Taia got a message from her sister saying that her adopted parents had passed away, and even though they hadn't seen each other since they were little, she would like to have Taia come live with her for a while; to get reacquainted so to speak."

"Oh I get it! Shifu didn't want her to go, and Taia didn't listen to him because she wanted to see her sister. So what happened then?" Po was looking rather eagerly at Ming, desperate to know the rest of the story.

Ming shrugged. "That's the part I don't know. She never talks about it; the only reason I know all of this is, like I said, I'm her best friend, and we always go to each other whenever we're having emotional issues. However, whenever I try to talk about it, or mention his name, she looks like she wants to kill something!"

"That's what Shifu does too! We only found out about her recently though… So what are we going to do?"

Ming pondered over Po's question. She then snapped her fingers and smirked a bit.

"I've got it! Taia and I run sort of a boarding house for people who are running from the law and others who are without a home; there's plenty of room and you can tell your Shifu that you want to spend the night there!"

"Perfect!" Po cried.

"What's perfect?"

"Oh hey Master!" Po said rather startled. Shifu had reappeared. He'd spent the entire time puzzling over the map once more; he still new nothing and he was looking incredibly tired.

"It's rather late," he said. "We should find a place to stay for the night."

"Well Master," Tigress said suddenly, "as a matter of fact we were just talking to Ming about that."

Tigress gestured towards Ming, who had been sizing Shifu up. This was the guy her best friend had been best friends with? Well…. He was cute.

Ming realized that Tigress had mentioned her name and said, "I have a boarding house."

Shifu shook his head and raised one hand up before saying, "Thank you madam, but we-"

"Oh I insist! After all it's just for one night." Ming had settled on the decision that Taia _definitely _needed to meet back up with this guy. Anyone who'd met both, even for a few moments, could tell they were perfect for each other.

"Yeah, please?" Po whined. "We're all so tired!"

Shifu sighed, "Well…"

"Great! Follow me!" Ming then turned around quickly, before Shifu could have even a second to reconsider, and started walking forward. The three students quickly followed.

Shifu sighed again. The funny feeling still hadn't left him.

…..

Taia sighed as she walked through the forest. It was getting dark and she would have to head back soon.

She lived in the huge house since she had moved in with her sister so many years ago. However, no amount of time had managed to make it feel like a home. Yes it was warm and safe and the friends and people she called family lived there. This didn't change anything.

Taia stopped. She reached the pond; a tiny body of clear water where she like to sit and think.

The red panda got down on her knees, pulled off her mask, and began to wash her face.

She then looked at her reflection in the slightly agitated water. Uggghhh. She was getting so old. Most days she felt like she was no more than twenty still; but for some reason lately she just felt like she was missing something.

"_Or someone."_

She shook the thought away before again rising, pulling her mask back on, and moving on.

"Why do I have a funny feeling?" she asked herself.

…

"Here we are," Ming said as they reached the large double doors.

Shifu looked quizzically at the old building. It wasn't exactly the nicest place he had ever stayed in; however it was, by far, better than sleeping outside.

As soon as Ming opened the doors, they were greeted by a loud ruckus. Apparently one of the Russians had punched an acrobat which had resulted in tumbling, yelling, culturally diverse, chaos.

"You guys can go that way," Ming gestured towards her right, "to the kitchen. It looks like I'll have to settle this."

As the rabbit woman quickly jumped into the fray, pulling Veggie Man off of a mime, the four masters entered the kitchen.

The room was rather large; however taking into account the fact that most of the people were outside involved in the fight, there weren't very many people present.

Shifu sat down with his students at a long wooden table.

Po began to drum his fingers. "So…."

Just then another door connecting to the kitchen burst open. In ran a young rabbit girl being chased by a red panda boy. They were soon followed by a much smaller red panda girl, who was dragging a small rag that looked like somebody had left it in a sand box.

"Get away from me Benji, you little twerp!" The older girl yelled at the boy.

The boy, Benji, gave a sinister chuckle, and continued to thrust the palm of his open hand in his sister's direction.

"Spit hand!" he chuckled to himself; the whole thing was actually quite creepy.

Li reached forward and grabbed her little brother into a head lock. The nine year let out a slightly held back cry of pain, but continued to try to force his saliva soaked hand into his sister's face.

The tiny red panda girl rolled around on the floor, giggling hysterically at the entire display. When she realized, however, that there were other people in the room, she stood up, blinked her gray eyes, and marched over to inspect these strange newcomers.

Not only was Hope quite small, but she was also entirely white, giving the impression that she was sickly. She was in fact in quite good shape; this however didn't keep people from over compensating.

"Hiiiii!" she cried in a sing-song voice, as she looked up at the large black and white panda in front of her.

"Hey there!" Po said, always enthusiastic when it came to kids. "What's your name?"

"I'm Hope! But people like to call me Hopie!"

"Oh really? Why's that?"

The small girl shrugged. "How should I know? I just live here!"

Shifu couldn't help but give a slight chuckle at the words coming from the four-year-old's mouth. After all, kids did in fact say the darndest things.

"Who are they?" Po asked pointing towards the still wrestling siblings.

"That's Li and that's Benji," Hope replied, pointing to her sibling respectively. "They like to argue when they're bored."

Hope toddled over and crawled up into Po's lap and then onto the table in front of him.

"Who're you?" she asked, before popping her thumb into her mouth.

"We're visitors," Tigress replied.

"Oh, we get lots and lots of those! My mommy brings them here and we takes good care of them!" Hope said enthusiastically.

"Is your mother in charge of this place?" Shifu asked.

"Yep. Mommy's the boss! She kicks bad guys' butts!"

There was a loud thump from across the room. Li had given up and had chucked her brother aside, where he had landed face first in a sack of flour. The eleven year old rabbit ran her paws through her brown fur, and walked over to see what was going on.

When she reached the others she stopped and asked, "Why do you guys look familiar?"

"Well it could be because I'm the amazing Dragon Warrior!" Po cried, as always loving the attention he received for his title.

"Whoa seriously?" Benji, now dusted with flour, asked.

"Yes he is," Tigress replied. "I'm Tigress, this is Mantis, and of course Master Shifu."

Shifu and Mantis both nodded as their names were mentioned.

"Cool," Benji said, thoroughly awestruck.

"It's nice to meet you," Li said, somewhat shyly.

"Does that mean you kick butt too?" Hope asked, her question directed mostly at Shifu.

"Kung Fu is much more than just kicking butt; however that is of course part of it." The old master replied, of course throwing in a small tidbit of a lecture, as was the norm.

Just then Ming came in through the swinging doors. She looked at Po and waved her hand rather frantically. The panda quickly realized that something must be wrong. He got up and walked over quickly.

"What is it?" he asked in a low whisper.

"She's here!" Ming replied anxiously, while jumping up and down slightly.

"Already! Oh, no! But we haven't had a chance to prepare them or anything!"

Ming frustrated, put her hands on her hips, and in the same furious whisper said, "Well what do you expect me to do about it!"

"Can't you stall?"

"There is no stalling!"

"Po what's going on?" Shifu called suspiciously, as Ming stepped back through to stand on the other side of the doors.

"What? Oh, nothing! Nothing's going on! Why would you think there was something going on?" Po said this all rather quickly, while at the same time trying to signal his friends with facial cues. They of course didn't get it and the only reaction Po received was for Hope to wonder if he had ants in his pants.

On the other side of the door things weren't much better. Taia hadn't eaten all day and was wondering what could cause her friend to not want her to enter the kitchen.

"Ming what is wrong with you? Let me through!" she said, close to just shoving her friend aside.

"W-well you see there are, uh, well, some, uh, new people i-in there and I uh," Ming stammered. She may have had a bad temper, but she was also a bad liar.

"So? Let me in so I can meet them!" Taia was losing patience fast and Ming knew it. Most days her friend could be relatively sweet; however this wasn't one of those days.

"Meet them? Well, uh, you see, you already know them! Or, er, one of them!"

"You see you already know her!" Po was saying to his master.

"Well if I know her already, why won't you let me see her?" Shifu asked, unaware that he wasn't the only one who was low on patience.

"I, uh, well.." Ming stammered.

"You see I, uh.." Po trailed off.

"Oh please just move!" Both red pandas said this, and simultaneously pushed open the door on their own right.

When they spotted each other they stopped. It took a second for things to register in their minds.

They stared at each other, eyes locked, emerald green bonding with sky blue. The two of them shared a sharp intake of breath. They simultaneously blinked, still holding the swinging doors open.

Everything was silent. Most of the people had gone upstairs after the fight ended; this left the three students, the three kids, Ming, and Veggie Man to stare silently at the people who were staring silently at each other.

"Taia," Shifu said, his voice just barely above a whisper, finally able to locate his voice.

"Shifu," she said in return, just as quietly.

They stood only a foot apart, hardly able to remember how they had gotten there in the first place.

"Shifu," Taia said again, a bit louder this time. He didn't reply; what do you say in this situation.

Taia lifted her arms away from her sides, just a bit.

"_Please don't slap me."_ Shifu thought to himself as about a million other thoughts ran through his head, including how wonderful he thought she looked. _"Although you probably deserve to."_

Suddenly an excited smile flashed across Taia's face.

"Shifu!" she cried loudly before pushing him backwards slightly, so that they were standing in the kitchen, and then throwing her arms around him.

"I'm so happy to see you!"

**A/N: I was off for Christmas, so I haven't updated in a while. Sorry about the long story, but like Ming said, it had to be told. How was that for a reuinion? R&R!**


	8. Chapter 8

"I'm so happy to see you!"

Shifu stood there, frozen to the spot as he listened to Taia's words.

"_She's hugging me!" _This thought echoed in his mind. She was actually hugging him. After everything that had happened, she had actually missed him!

He wasn't much of a hugger, but he couldn't help but admit that it did feel rather nice; having her soft, warm body gently pressed into his, her head resting on his shoulder. She smelled sweet; like cherry blossoms.

But wait. What was he supposed to do now? Hug her back? No, that was asking too much. Say something maybe?

"I-I-I'm glad to see you too?" he stammered nervously.

"Well of course you are! You must have been horribly lonely without me!"

Taia released him and gave him her old excited smile, sarcasm and amusement glimmering in her emerald green eyes. She then put her hands on his shoulders and looked him in his own sky blue pair of eyes.

"Wow, you look different! You're so old!"

Shifu grimaced at this. Although in truth he had changed quite a bit since they last met.

"If I look so different then how is it that you recognized me?" Yes, take the witty bantering route.

Taia shook her head and smirked. "Easy: fat head, fluffy tail, posture that makes a person think that you have a pole running up your back; who else but you?"

Shifu glared again. "My head is not fat, my tail is not fluffy, and for the love of the gods my posture is due to the fact that I am trying to maintain a regal air!"

"More like regal airhead." Taia poked him in the belly.

"Don't!" he protested and covered his stomach with his arms.

"Don't what?" she asked teasingly.

"Don't poke me!"

"What, you mean like this?" She then poked him again.

He gave her a menacing glare this time and angled his ears slightly downward to tell her to back off.

"Oh come on Shifu I'm just playing with you! You know you like it!"

"Humph," was all he had to say about the subject.

The two of them then suddenly remembered that there were other people in the room.

The two of them looked to where Ming, Po, Tigress, Mantis, Li, Benji, Hope, and Veggie Man were now standing in a group. All of them (except Veggie Man who had fallen asleep on his feet) were making a face that could only be described as a 'Huh?' face.

"Mom, how the heck do you know Master Shifu?" Li asked.

Shifu turned to Taia with a quizzical look. "Mom?"

Taia nodded at him. "Why so surprised?"

She then turned back to her oldest daughter and said, "Shifu and I were friends a long time ago sweetie. We trained together," she casually put one arm around his shoulders, "and we were kind of like brother and sister; partners if you will."

Benji scratched his head messing up the thatch of black hair that grew atop his head between his black tipped ears. "Wait so he's your boyfriend?"

"NO!" The two adult red pandas cried at the same time; Taia quickly removed her arm and they both moved a few inches farther apart.

"It was never a romantic relationship," Shifu said quickly. "We were, are now, and always will be just friends."

"Wait a second!" Ming had finally gotten out of her shocked mode and now looked somewhat frustrated. "You mean to tell me that the two of you are just going back to being friends?"

"Ming, why are you so upset? And also why exactly didn't you want me to see Shifu?"

"That reminds me," Shifu suddenly spoke up, "I asked you to drop the subject Po. Yet I believe that you have a large part in us meeting again."

"Yeah Ming; you wouldn't have anything to do with this would you?" Taia raised an eyebrow.

Ming and the three young masters glanced at each other before staring at Po. Po sighed before stepping forward. "Master I take full responsibility for this."

Shifu nodded. "I thought so. Therefore the matter must be dealt with accordingly."

Po sighed again. He knew he was in for some serious hurt.

"Thank you."

Po looked shocked. "What?"

"I would like to thank you. True you didn't obey my orders; but-

Shifu glanced at Taia then. The red panda lady nodded.

"It is nice to you again. And Po, I can't punish you for that."

Po felt completely and utterly relieved; like an entire brick factory had been going to fall on him, but had been caught by an awesome super hero (whom Po would give a name to at a later date).

"That's sweet," Taia commented. "But enough with the mush; Ming I'm starving over here!"

"Give me two seconds! I just got home for crying out loud!"

"Look all I'm asking for is an apple or something!"

"Then get one!"

"I don't know where they are! By the way are you guys' hungry?" Taia took a break from arguing with her friend to ask this question of her guests.

"No we've eaten already," Shifu replied for the group.

"Actually I'm kind of starving," Po said. Mantis agreed with him.

"What were you doing while we were in the village?" their master asked.

"Well you see these pig bandits showed up-

"That's where I know you from," Taia interrupted. "The market place! Nice reflexes by the way."

"Thanks/Thank You," they replied.

"Well if you guys are done with the pleasantries, Taia you're going to have to help me cook," Ming said.

"But I can't cook!" she replied in a clearly exasperated voice.

"I can cook," Po said timidly. He wanted to help but he didn't want this rabbit mad at him.

"Great! You help her!" Taia quickly shoved both the panda and her rabbit friend in the direction of the food supplies. The two glanced at each other, shrugged, and began cooking.

Taia turned back to the table, where her children were craving attention.

"Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!" Hope shouted in her usual hopping routine. Her mother reached forward and lifted her up and off the table.

"What, what, what?" she asked her excited daughter.

"Benji punched Li, Li locked Benji in the closet, and I was good all day!"

"Really; all day?" Taia asked, not exactly believing it, before setting her daughter down on the floor.

"Nope!" Benji interjected. "She threw a fit, just like she always does!"

"Uh yeah, because you took her blanket, again!" Li of course was taking her sister's side.

"Speaking of which," Taia reached forward and took hold of the ragged cloth that her youngest was gripping tightly, "this guy needs a wash."

Hope reluctantly loosened her grip on her beloved rag friend. She hated to let go, but was smart enough to understand that when he came back, he would be cleaner and happier; he would also smell better.

"You better come too flour child." Taia exited the kitchen with her floury son in tow.

"So," Li said in a serious tone, as she turned toward the grandmaster. "You and my mom were friends, were you?"

"Yes, we were," Shifu replied, not exactly sure where this conversation was headed. "And, by the looks of things, still are."

"Interesting," Li continued and began to pace in a circle around Shifu. "If the two of you were and are such good friends, then why is it that we've never seen you here before, hmmm? We've never heard of you either. It's all rather…_suspicious_."

When she said suspicious, Shifu, as well as Tigress and Mantis, found it nearly impossible to not crack up laughing. Li had whipped back around and said it in a mock creepy voice, with a twitching eye and eyebrow capping it off; it was weird but incredibly funny.

"Oh you think this is _funny_, do you?" This time they couldn't hold back the laughter. Li had curled her upper lip back on one side and scrunched up her nose on funny, and then had flailed her limbs out in a sort of spastic dance move right after that.

Li did this sort of thing a few more times, until everybody was gripping their stomachs with laughter (yes even Shifu and Tigress). Ming however had to call it to a stop; she and Po were still trying to cook and it was hard to measure vegetable amounts when laughing.

"Dude, you are funny! Kinda weird, but funny!" Mantis complimented.

"Thanks; I like making people laugh."

"Of course you do, you're good at it." Taia had come back in along with Benji who was now flower free and commenting on his sister's routine.

"It's even more fun teaching Hope how to do it." Li turned to her little sister. "Show 'em Hopie!"

"Oh this is going to be good," Ming said as she and Po set a bowl of soup down in front of everyone.

Hope stood in the middle of the floor while everyone else was sitting and watching her.

The tiny girl then put one hand on her hip the other behind her head, and then proceeded to walk forward, hips swaying.

This received a few slight chuckles.

Hope and her swaying hips walked over to where Shifu was sitting. She leaned one hand against the chair and looked up at the much older man.

"Hey there big boy," she said; in her high pitch voice the hilarity was intensified

Everyone laughed at this.

Hope then continued to strut her stuff around the table. She stopped, put her hand down, and while moving one shoulder up and down said, "It's not the man in my life; it's the life in my man."

Everyone cracked up; Po and Benji both laughed so hard, they blew noodles out of their noses which just made everyone laugh harder. Hope took a bow and hopped over to her spot next to her mother.

"Let's eat," Ming announced.

…

"Ugh, what a day!" Taia said.

Dinner had continued on, with a lot of laughter, as well as more food being blown out of various noses.

When everyone was finally finished, the kids had refused to go to bed until the masters promised that they would still be there when they woke up.

The adults had stayed up talking about various adult type subjects, until Po was so tired he fell out of his chair. The three younger masters had then gone to their assigned rooms on the top floor and were closely followed by Ming, who was dragging Veggie Man (Cabbage!).

Now the only two people who were in the large kitchen were Taia and Shifu.

The two of them hadn't gotten talk much during dinner, and had made up for it by talking for almost two hours straight. Taia had talked about how Kara died and Shifu had found it easy to go into great detail the events involving Tai Lung. The two of them felt comfortable, and neither one could keep from smiling every five seconds.

"Your students are so great," she commented.

"As are your children," he said in turn. "Hope is simply adorable."

Shifu took a small sip from the cup of tea that was in front of him, and Taia took a bite of a cookie; almond with a sticky cinnamon drizzle over top; the only thing Taia was really good at making. Mantis and Po couldn't wait to tell Monkey that they had found cookies that were even better than his.

"So," Shifu said, "from what I here, you've become somewhat of a hero around here."

"What can I say? I'm just that good." Taia replied with a joking smirk spreading across her lips.

Shifu smirked back before taking another sip of tea.

"So I've just got to ask. What on Earth are you doing so far from the Palace?"

Uh-oh. He knew that this was going to come up.

"It's not important," he said trying to change the subject.

"Liar!" Taia reached forward and pointed at his snout. "Your nose is on high speed."

Damn! He'd forgotten that she knew about that.

"So come on! Spill the beans! Pour you guts! Let the cat go free from the bag!"

"Alright, alright! But only if you promise to quit using those stupid sayings!"

"Deal," she replied with a grin.

Shifu pulled the two scrolls out from under the table where he had had them stored. He unrolled the picture and repeated basically everything that the emperor had said. He told her everything including the fact that he couldn't read the map. For some reason he had no trouble with admitting to her that he had a weakness; she already knew about him anyway.

"You idiot!" she cried. "How could you just agree like that? When you can't even read it."

"I was hoping for some support, thank you!" He replied rudely.

"Oh support, well then don't worry! The emperor won't be too upset when his wife dies."

"Why did I think that you'd be any help?"

Taia sighed. "Okay, okay. I guess I'm not that surprised. I probably would have done the same. But what are you going to do?"

"In all honesty? I have no idea! These symbols are so old; I've never seen anything like them." He unrolled the map and showed it to her. "Just look at this. Have you ever seen anything so complicated?"

Taia took the map from Shifu's hands. She scanned it. She then slid her eyes closed, rolled the map back up, and set it down on the table.

Shifu raised an eyebrow. Taia had begun to shake slightly and her lips were quivering.

Taia eyes then snapped open, her mouth opened wide, and she laughed; hard!

Shifu couldn't believe it. She was laughing in his face.

"I hardly see any amusement in this situation!" He said this with a voice filled with anger.

"Oh my gods!" she cackled and banged her fist on the table. "I'm sorry it's just.." she broke off and laughed a bit more.

"Okay," she said breathing heavily. "I'm done." A small giggle escaped her lips.

"Good. Now would you mind explaining why you find it necessary to laugh at me?"

"I'm not laughing at you, you dummy." She thought a second. "Well okay I kind of am."

She shook her head. "But you don't get it."

Taia unrolled the map and turned it so that they could both look.

"Shifu it's written in Russian."

Shifu's eyes widened. "Russian?"

Taia nodded trying not smirk and failing.

Shifu felt like an idiot. To think that if he had just known the language of the next country to the north he could of don it on his own.

"I am a dummy." He hung his head and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Yeah you kind of are. But! You're a dummy with a friend who happens to know how to read Russian."

Shifu looked up at her. "You do?"

"Yeah! A lot of people come through here that are from other countries. I'm no good at speaking them but I've managed to read and write just about thirty different languages. Russian being the one I have to use most often."

Taia put on a professional air like that of a lawyer. "I'll make you a deal, bud. I'll play guide and get you to the Dragon Stone so that you can save the Empress and be the hero. In exchange for my most gracious help you tell the Emperor about the situation we have down here."

Taia gave her companion a serious look. "It'd be nice if the people around here didn't have fear for their lives every second of the day."

Shifu grinned. He never imagined that things could like this. If only all of his problems were taken care of this quickly and easily.

"Deal."

Taia put her pinky in the air. "Pinky swear?"

Shifu rolled his eyes. Pinky swears were childish. But if that's what it took.

"Pinky swear." He reached his own pinky up and they locked.

"Great," she said with a smile. She then hopped down from her chair and started heading towards the door.

"You coming to bed? Or were you planning on some heavy duty meditation?"

He grinned again. "A bit of meditation first sounds nice. I think this room will do fine."

"All right. When you get tired just go to the top floor."

Before she reached the door, Taia stopped and looked back. She then walked back over to where Shifu was sitting.

"You know," she said, "it's great to have you back."

"Likewise."

Taia nodded, patted him on the shoulder before turning around and walking out of the kitchen.

Shifu found a corner and sat down to begin his meditation.

It was then that he realized that the funny feeling had finally left him.

**A/N: *sigh* Sorry this chapter was so terrible. I was trying to fit a lot of stuff into a small space. For some reason the usual chemistry I have going between Shifu and Taia just doesn't seem quite right. I know it's bad, but please, REVIEW!**


	9. Chapter 9

_Knock knock knock_

"Ugh," Taia groaned into her pillow. What now?

_Knock knock knock_

"Okay, okay!" Taia crawled off her bed and onto the floor. She then crawled out into the apartment and to her front door.

Upon opening the door she found Ming, tapping her foot impatiently.

"Come on, get dressed!"

"What time is it?" Taia groaned.

"Morning; you're supposed to be a morning person remember?" Ming said her voice oozing with irony.

"Ugh," Taia said again, before turning around and crawling back to her room.

"Normally I am; but kindly recall that I was up late last night," Taia replied as she pulled out a worn dark green shirt to put over her green tube top (so what if most people her age didn't wear them? It was comfortable, and it made sure that she didn't show any cleavage).

"That reminds me; just what exactly did you do with Mister Master after I left, hmm?" Ming raised an eyebrow.

"We just talked," Taia said while putting black pants over her shorts.

"Is that all?"

"Yes that's all. Oh and by the way I need you take care of the kids for a few days."

"What?" Ming cried as Taia walked past her, out into the hallway, and started heading down stairs.

"A few days! Where are you going for a few days?" Ming called as she followed Taia down the stairs.

"Oh nowhere in particular," Taia said over her shoulder, as she reached the ground floor landing. She crossed the room to the kitchen, savoring the feeling of the smooth wooden floors beneath her bare feet.

"Nowhere? Oh, okay that's fine! I'm perfectly okay with you out of the blue ditching me and dumping me with three screaming banshee children! No explanation needed!" Ming wasn't a good liar, but like Taia she was a master of sarcasm.

"Good I'm glad that's settled!" Taia briskly walked over to the stove and started to make oatmeal.

"Look all I'm asking is that you tell me where exactly you and Master Facial Hair are running off to," Ming said. She began helping Taia with the cooking breakfast; the gods knew Taia needed the help.

"We're not running off, okay, I'm helping him!"

"Uh huh, I know that kind of help."

"Oh shut up!"

Taia turned to her friend and fixed her with a steady gaze.

"Look! I'm doing him a favor. Can't you do me one?"

"No!"

Taia stuck her lips out just a bit, tilted her head downwards, and dilated her pupils; classic puppy dog face.

"Stop it! That's not cute, it's disturbing!"

Taia made her pupils dilate even more.

Ming groaned. "Okay fine! But seriously, you could have just begged! You didn't have to automatically whip out the big weapons."

The two of them went back to making breakfast. Suddenly Ming turned to Taia.

"So that's what you're wearing today? Just the old shirt, nothing fancy?"

Taia raised a thin eyebrow. "Why would I be dressing fancy?"

Ming shrugged. "I don't know. I just thought you'd want to look nice for your lover."

"My- Oh quit!" Taia said sounding thoroughly exasperated. "You know people used to always do that to me and Shifu when we were kids; pair us up! We don't like each other that way."

Taia looked up from what she was doing again and added, "Besides he's not my type."

"Fine, if you say so... Denial."

Taia sighed. She didn't feel like getting into this argument; she'd had it countless times with countless people. Why couldn't she and Shifu just be friends?

"What makes you think we like each other that way?"

"One word: Perseverance."

Taia raised her eyebrow again.

"Care to elaborate?"

"Sure," Ming said, "the two of you have been apart this long, but you still like each other. That's what love does; it perseveres."

Taia decided to ignore this statement. "Someone pinch me! Miss 'never going to fall in love again as long as she lives' is giving me advice about _my_ love life!"

The rabbit rolled her eyes. "Oh ha, ha. Look, just because I've abandoned the dating scheme doesn't mean I don't still know things. And if there's one thing I know, it's that you have a devotion the size of the great wall for that blue eyed little kung fu guru."

Taia shook her head. There was no point in trying to fight this; she knew that no matter what, Ming would persist. It was better just to drop it.

The door to the kitchen opened with a squeak and in came the aforementioned kung fu 'guru'.

"Good morning, ladies," he said politely before sitting himself down in a chair.

"Well speak of the demons! We were just talking about you!" Ming said and elbowed Taia. She motioned for Taia to say something to him. She knew just how to shut Ming up.

"Yeah," Taia said mischievously. "That's right. Ming was just talking about how you're so talented and handsome."

Shifu's eyes widened. "Huh?"

"Yes, she just thinks you're a hunk!" This comment was rewarded by a whack on the shoulder by the rabbit, and a pair of eyes that looked as if they could pop from their sockets from the grandmaster.

Taia cackled evilly as she set some oatmeal in front of her male friend.

"Here you are guru!" She said as she turned back around still laughing.

Shifu tasted the oatmeal. "This is good, thank you."

Shifu continued to eat and Ming and Taia continued making the meal; in case you forgot they had several mouths to feed.

Just then the door to the kitchen squeaked again. All three turned to look at who had come in, but there was no one there.

All of a sudden, there was a flash of black and something flew at Taia; a long black cobra with jaws wide open.

Taia didn't even flinch. She'd done this before.

The green clad woman leapt up, grabbed the snake by his tail, and swung him around like a lasso.

She banged his head against the cabinet, the floor, and the ceiling before finally body slamming him onto the table.

Taia released the snake's tail and the legless creature let out a loud groan.

The cobra sat up (so to speak). He then looked at Taia, let out a loud dramatic sniff and cried, "You injured me!"

Shifu raised an eyebrow. He wasn't sure what exactly was going on but something told him this snake wasn't much of a threat.

"I did? Oh you poor little baby," Taia said mockingly as she went back to what she was doing.

"Yeah should we kiss it better?" Ming joined in the mocking.

The cobra blew a raspberry. "Meanies!"

"Looks like it's one of his dramatic days," Taia commented.

"Dramatic! I'm not dramatic! Good grief can't a person pretend to attack a friend of his, get beaten up and then pout without a couple of women gossiping about him? Is that really too much to ask?"

"Yes," the two ladies said in unison.

"Humph," the cobra pouted.

"Ahem," the snake heard someone behind him say. The cobra turned around to see that there was another guy in the room.

"What up?" The snake said while slithering over to the newcomer.

"Not to be rude," Shifu said politely. "It's just that you greatly resemble someone I've met."

"Let me guess," the snake started, sounding as if he'd had this conversation several times before. "The guy you met was an evil, ten foot long cobra, who had a large hood, glistening silver fangs, a strange need to over annunciate certain letters, and he had eyes that burned as red as the charcoals that dwell in the very depths of hell itself."

"How do you-?"

"Know him? Yeah; he's my father."

"Your father?" Shifu cried, once again wide eyed.

"Shifu I'd like you to meet Deng. He's my inside source," Taia said from over her shoulder. "And because he knows we need him too much to kick him out, he tends to be a bit of a moocher."

"I am not! Now where's the food, I'm starving over here!"

After a few rounds of dramatic sighing, Deng's persistence was rewarded with a bowl of oatmeal.

"Yum!" the snake said as he happily spooned it into his mouth.

Upon closer inspection, Shifu realized that unlike She Du, Deng had deep blue eyes; most likely from his mother; whoever she was.

"So Deng," the red panda commented. "You live here?"

"Nope. I'm stuck in that iron hell of a prison. It's sort of like dad's fortress. That's actually how I met Taia; I found her sneaking some people out one night. After a little confrontation which involved me nearly getting my skull smashed, I realized that I wasn't the only one who wasn't to thrilled about my father's methods.

"Well duh!" Ming called.

"I'm just saying that I didn't know!" Deng shouted at the rabbit.

"Anyway," the snake continued. "One thing led to another and now I'm a double agent."

"That must be stressful," Shifu commented.

"Nah it's all good. Taia taught me meditation and that helped out a lot."

"But it doesn't keep him from being the biggest drama queen I've ever met," Taia said as she and Ming set the large plates and bowls of food on the table.

"Drama queen! How dare you?" Deng cried. He then built himself up and in a sophisticated voice said "I am a drama king!"

Ming and Taia rolled their eyes and smirked.

After a little while many other animals came in and crowded the large kitchen. There was a quite a bit of noise as everyone clamored to grab plates, bowls, and serve themselves. Taia directed Shifu to go wait in the large front room. As he did so, Shifu passed by his students who were being flooded with excited questions from the Taia's as well as several other children.

The old master grinned wistfully. He recalled the days when he and Taia as well as other master were front and center standing in the spotlight. They were idolized by everyone even the rich. However, time had of course changed all that. Yes, he did somewhat miss those days; but not because of the fame. He missed Taia.

"What are you saying?" he suddenly asked himself out loud. "She's back now!"

Yes, he thought to himself. She was back.

Just then the kitchen door squeaked once again, and in came Taia.

"Can I talk to you?" she asked as she plopped down on a couch.

"I imagine that you'll talk no matter what I say," he replied as he sat down next to her.

"It's just," she began as she leaned back into a pillow and sprawled her feet in front of herself. "I'm worried about my kids."

"Why should you be worried?"

"They're used to me being gone for maybe several hours at a time; but never more than that. I'm not sure if it's a good idea for me to leave for more than a day."

Taia sighed then and sat back up. She looked at Shifu.

"They haven't exactly had normal childhoods."

"First of all, there is no such thing as a normal childhood. Second, any childhood you get involved is bound to be much more than the usual not normal." Shifu said all of this with a slight grin and Taia smirked while giving him a light punch in the shoulder.

"But that's the thing," she continued. "I'm talking about before me."

Shifu's grin left. "Oh?"

Taia nodded. "They've all been through their own little bits of hell. Li's parents were killed in a fire, and Benji's father neglected and eventually abandoned him. The two of them eventually ended up in a foster home together, where I found and adopted them; they were only two and four then."

Taia shook her head sadly as she turned and let her legs hang over the side of the couch. "They still have nightmares. And Hope? I found her in a bag floating down the river, when she was only a day old. Apparently whoever had her decided that taking care of a baby would just be too taxing!"

Taia was getting angry now. She could blame her maternal instincts for that; it sickened her that anyone could be stupid enough to not want the precious little gift that was her daughter; even if she did have sticky hands.

"That is hard," Shifu said and put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "But I think that that makes you the perfect mother for them. You know what it's like to feel left alone, and therefore you know how to take care of them properly."

Taia nodded. "I know. I'm just hoping that there won't be a huge fiasco when I try to walk out the door."

Shifu nodded understandingly. He knew what it was like to be a parent and to be protective. Gods knew he still worried about Tigress every time she set out with Po and the rest of the Five. But he also knew that dwelling on the worry was useless and it was better to trust in his daughter's abilities.

As if on cue, the students as well as the children through the still squeaking door.

"Hey guys come here a minute," Taia called and waved her children over.

Li sat down next to her mother, Benji sat on the other side between his mom and the grandmaster, and Hope crawled into Taia's lap, once again clutching her beloved blanket, which was now much cleaner than it had been last night.

"So listen," Taia started. "You guys know how sometimes I spend almost a whole day away? And that I do it because there are people who need my help?"

The kids replied with head nodding and a few yeahs.

"Well it looks like I'm going to be gone for maybe a week or more. You see Shifu," she looked up at her friend then and said, "is on a mission right now. And he's realized that he'll be simply lost without me, and is in desperate need of my help!"

The kids giggled, and the younger masters couldn't help but give a slight chuckle at the fact that their master was being teased (and there was nothing he could do about it).

Shifu gave a fake pleasant smile, silently promising to give her a good old fashioned sucker punch later.

Taia turned back to the kids. "So what do you say? You guys think you can hold down the fort?"

The three thought about it for a minute.

"Well," Li said while rocking back and forth. "As long as you promise not to come back without a souvenir; to have you be gone that long and then not even getting a reward for our wait would just be torture."

Her mother smirked at this. "Deal. What about you Hopie?"

Hope thought a minute. "Promise you're gonna come back?"

"Cross my heart," Taia replied and made an x over her chest.

"Okay; but you have to give us good bye hugs _first_!"

"You bet."

Taia turned to Benji now. She knew for a fact that he would be the hardest to convince. He'd been left before, and the idea of being left again didn't appeal to him in the least.

"What about you Benji?" she asked him somewhat softly and gently put an arm around him. "You think you can survive without being nagged for a few days?"

Benji twiddled his thumbs. No he didn't think he would survive. He may not have said it very often, but he loved his mother very much; and deep inside something told him that if she left for very long, that was when the bad things would start happening.

However he also didn't want it to look as if his sisters were stronger than him.

"Okay," he said, trying to sound casual, and like his heart wasn't screaming for his mother stay right where she was.

"Good! I'll just go grab my knife and then we can head out."

Taia lifted her daughter from her lap, set her on the floor, and then headed upstairs.

"Why does she need a knife?" Po asked his master.

"It's a special knife. It belonged to her grandfather. It's the only thing she has that belonged to her family and she never goes anywhere without it," Shifu replied.

He then thought a moment; he realized how easy it had been to simply pluck that piece of information from his head. He and Taia may have been apart for a long time, but it was becoming clearer and clearer to him that they certainly hadn't forgotten much.

Well she is hard to forget, he thought.

"Okay, let's go!" Taia called from where she was coming down the stairs. She now carried a knife, the same one from the picture Po realized. It had a silver blade, and an ebony handle with golden marks carved into it. As far as weaponry went, it was top notch.

"Oh no you don't!" Ming called as she came through the door accompanied by, low and behold, a squeak.

"You haven't eaten yet! Here's some fruit, a few carrots, some oats-"

"Ming, are you nuts! I can't take all of this with me!"

"Well excuse me! I'm just trying to look out for you!"

"I know," Taia said calming down. "Just do me a favor and make sure this place doesn't get burnt down while I'm gone, 'kay?"

Ming grumbled but agreed.

Deng came in just then calling, "Hold up! How come I wasn't told about this unscheduled trip?"

"Because I didn't care enough to tell you," Taia replied as if it was obvious.

"Suppose something happens while you're gone! What then?" the cobra asked eagerly.

Taia tapped her chin. "Well then I guess you'll have to take care of it; I mean just because you can't beat me doesn't mean you can't beat those lugs your daddy hired."

Deng sighed. "Alright, I'll do it. But if my tail gets calloused, you're paying for my pedicure!"

Taia rolled her eyes before leaning over and kissing and hugging her daughters.

"You girls be good for Ming; the gods know she has enough to worry about without you guys going nuts."

"Thank you!" Ming cried, glad for the recognition.

"And you," she continued as she walked over to Benji and knelt down in front of him.

"I'll be back in no more than a week; cross my heart." She made another x over her heart and hugged her son tightly.

Taia then placed a quick kiss on his forehead before standing up again. She tried not to notice the misty film that was quickly spreading over his black eyes.

"Everyone ready?" Shifu asked the group.

After every one confirmed that they were indeed travel ready, the five of them turned and left through the large wooden front doors.

Shifu and Taia walked a bit faster then the younger masters, and ended up at least two yards ahead of the others.

Shifu glanced toward his female companion.

"You ready?" he asked.

She gave him her usual smirk and replied, "Always."

"Wait! Mom!"

Taia turned around to see Benji dashing towards her.

"Benji what's up!" she called as he came closer.

Benji ran up and hugged her around the legs. He then took a step back and held up a throwing star.

"Just in case?" he offered.

"Sounds like a good idea to me," his mother replied and tucked the star into her pocket along with her knife.

Benji then stood in front of his mother while facing Master Shifu.

"You take care of my mom!" the young boy said fiercely.

"Don't worry I will," Shifu said in return before looking back at Taia.

"I'm used to getting her out of trouble."

Taia stuck her tongue out at him before giving Benji another quick kiss on the head.

Benji stood at the head of the trail and watch as his mother and the other masters walked until they were out of sight. She'd be back. He knew it.

Taia bit her tongue and breathed out slightly, glad that that was over with.

Now then, she thought to herself. I've got a stone to find.

**A/N: Well that was long. I'm just glad I got it out. DAMN YOU WRITER'S BLOCK! I love the reviews! I hope I didn't make Benji seem weak; he really is a strong kid, it's just that his past haunts him. As always R&R!**


	10. Chapter 10

Shifu face palmed for what he felt like was the hundredth time that day.

She hasn't changed a bit, he thought to himself.

Po and Taia believe or not, had a whole heck of a lot in common. They were both loud and enjoyed humming and singing while they walked. Putting those two together was almost worse than Po, Monkey, and Mantis when they'd been given sugar.

As of the moment the two of them as well as Mantis were singing the same words over and over and over again.

"I wanna rock and roll all night! And party every day!"

They'd even managed to get Tigress to hum along.

The old master shook his head. She's never serious, he thought. Never.

"I would appreciate it greatly if the four of you would _quiet down_," he ordered.

Po, Tigress, and Mantis instantly went silent. Taia continued for a minute, before realizing that everyone else had stopped.

She glanced sideways at Shifu. She then pinched him on the shoulder to get him to stop walking.

"What?" he asked her.

Taia narrowed her eyes at him and cocked her head to the side. She then stuck her face in his causing him to lean away from her.

The red panda lady then pinched him a few more times in various places.

"Ow! What are you –ow- doin- ouch!"

Taia gasped dramatically. She then said in a very serious tone, "It's just as I thought!"

"What? What is it?" the old master asked, suddenly worried.

"Master Shifu," Taia said melodramatically while looking down at her feet. "I'm afraid that you've forgotten," she looked up then, "how to have fun."

There was a dramatic dun dun dun noise in the background.

Shifu rolled his eyes. How had he just _known_ that this was going to happen?

"I am perfectly capable of having fun. However under the circumstances, I don't think that such actions are appropriate."

He then turned away from Taia and continued walking forward on the trail.

The five of them had been traveling for about two days. They had only stopped twice, once to find food and again later on to sleep for a few hours. Taia had slept on her stomach, as always, while Shifu had rested on his back with his hands folded over his stomach. Before they had fallen asleep the two had recalled all the times that they had done this before. It just felt natural.

However as normal as it may have felt, it caused Shifu to shudder; he dreaded the thought that he and Taia were falling back into routine. He didn't want to do that. He didn't want to care.

"I have a question," Po said, interrupting his master's thoughts.

Uh-oh was the first thing that came to Shifu's mind.

"'Bout what?" Taia asked, not one to worry about what the question could be.

"How in the heck did you guys become friends?" The panda asked this, with a genuine look of wonder. "I mean the two of you seem more like the two old people who live next to each other and argue over who has the better garden."

The two older masters had to admit that Po was right; they had been arguing a lot on this trip. They'd argued about how fast they should be walking, where to look for food, if what Taia said was on the map was really what was on there (when the students weren't around of course); They'd even gotten into an argument about arguing.

"Well at first we didn't like each other much; Shifu thought I was crazy, which I am, and I thought he was boring, which he is."

Shifu gave his usual humph.

"I still remember when we first met…"

"Cue the flashback!" Mantis called.

…

_The small red panda girl tilted her head back to fully view what lay before her: an enormous palace with pillars and carvings and grand archways. It was magic._

"_Wow," she whispered, her emerald eyes scanning the entirety of the building. "I get to live here?" Amazement dwelled in her voice. _

"_Yes," the elderly turtle replied. "You will live and train."_

_The turtle looked down at her then and smiled. "I have a feeling that one day, you will be a great warrior."_

_The small girl loved the way the turtle spoke. With him great didn't mean very good; great meant mighty, strong, powerful. It meant he believed in her._

_She smiled up at him happy as could be. The two pairs of green eyes locked as they shared the trusting smile._

"_Now then," the turtle continued on, leading her away from the palace towards a smaller building. "Let me show you the barracks, where you will sleep."_

"_Okay," she said excitedly, while bouncing along behind him._

_She had never been more excited in her entire life. The thought of belonging somewhere filled her heart to the brim with joy. However- Would she and her new master be the only ones?_

"_Master Oogway," she said between bounces._

"_Yes, child?"_

"_Is there anybody else here?"_

"_I was hoping you would ask," he replied and opened the door to the barracks. The girl walked inside and dashed down the hallway, to see who else could be within the walls._

_She stopped right before she got to an open room. The red panda leaned forward and peered around the corner. There, in the room that she guessed was a kitchen, she spotted a boy about her age and size. He was standing, or trying to stand on top of a Bo staff. This however proved difficult, and he periodically needed to grab onto the nearby table so as not to keel over._

"_I can do this! I can do this!" The red panda boy was whispering to himself as he shifted his weight back and forth in order to try to achieve steadiness._

_The red panda girl spotted a golden opportunity, not only to try and introduce herself, but also to surprise him. The boy was facing away from her and hadn't noticed her presence yet. She walked up behind him as silently as she could._

"_**HI!" **_

"_AUGH!"_

_The so far nameless young man fell from atop the staff. However what the girl hadn't been planning on was for him to fall backwards. Needless to say she was squished._

"_Ow," the boy groaned. He turned to look at what had caused him to fall from where he had been trying to perfect his balance; he longed for the ability to balance on the staff the way his master could upon his own._

_He spotted what had caused him to slip; a girl. Wait, a girl? What the-_

"_Who are you?" he asked rudely. _

"_I'm living here now!" She said this still excitedly as she picked herself up and faced her new comrade (or so she hoped)._

"_Alright but what's your name?" he asked, further annoyed as it seemed that he was in the presence of one of those people who needed everything explained._

"_What's your name?" _

_He shrugged before answering, "Shifu."_

"_Shifu? Hmm... Yeah that'll do."_

_Young Shifu tilted his head to the side. What would've happened if she hadn't found his name adequate? And come to think of it she still hadn't answered his question._

"_Who are you?"_

_He raised two fists and set them in position in case he would have to attack her._

"_I'm Taia!" she put up her own dukes. "You got a problem with that?"_

"_Maybe!"_

"_Well maybe I've got a problem with you!"_

_Shifu grimaced. What was this girl doing here and who did she think she was? She couldn't beat him!_

_The small boy swung his fist at her. She reached her hand up, caught his fist, and punched him in the stomach._

_Shifu doubled over in pain. _

"_Stupid girl!" he coughed._

"_Fat boy!"_

"_You two, what's going on?" Master Oogway, calm as ever, came in just then. Shifu felt humiliated. Why did his master have to come in when he had just been beaten by a girl?_

_Taia pointed at the still bent in half boy. "I don't like him very much; can we kick him out?"_

_Oogway chuckled. "I'm afraid not."_

"_Master, who is she?" Shifu cried, finally standing up straight. He didn't like this girl anymore than she like him, but he had to admit she really packed a punch._

"_Shifu," Oogway stepped in between the two, "I would like you to meet Taia, our newest student."_

"_Newest student? But Master, she's insane!"_

"_I am not! You're just too boring! If you'd open your eyes you'd see that I'm unique."_

_Oogway smiled. "You learn quickly," he said remembering their earlier conversation._

"Your sister isn't better than you. You're both different and special."

_It'd taken a while but she had come around._

"_Well, I can see that it's going to take some time for the two of you to get used to each other. In the mean time, how about dinner?"_

…..

"Later Shifu mended fences by giving me a dumpling. It was a real sacrifice considering how much he likes them."

"Friends since," Shifu finished.

"Wow. But if that's the case, why do you guys still argue so much?" Po asked.

"That's part of being friends!" Taia cried as if it was obvious.

"Yes, Po, you should know that. Just like how you were fighting Monkey."

Po had to admit his master was right. Although he still hadn't forgiven the primate for insulting his action figures.

"So," Shifu pulled Taia aside. "You're sure that we're going the right way?"

"Sure I'm sure. Don't you trust me?"

Shifu shrugged. "I don't know."

Taia glared; her anger beginning to spark. "You don't trust me do you?"

"It's not about trust; it's about wanting to get to the Dragon Stone without ending up in India."

The female rolled her eyes.

"I know what I'm doing."

"Alright," Shifu said, putting his hands up, giving in.

Taia turned away from him, and began to walk off.

"Just because I'm second best doesn't mean I can't get the job done, you know."

Oh crap. This again?

"Can we please not start that?" He asked, close to begging.

"Start what?" she asked nonchalantly, turning back around to face him. "I'm not starting anything."

"Oh sure, you're not starting anything at all. You're certainly not reopening a wound which, since we met back up, I had assumed had healed!"

"You're right we shouldn't get into this." Taia turned back around and continued to walk

off.

The master sighed. Perhaps things weren't back to normal.

Shifu and Taia joined back up with the others, now not talking to each other.

Po noticed the sudden frigidness. He nudged Tigress who fixed him with a glare.

The panda nodded his head at the two older masters. Tigress looked at them.

The two were standing slightly ahead of the rest of the group. They were at least two feet apart and staring straight ahead. It was like someone had dropped a brick wall between them.

Tigress looked back at Po and shrugged.

"_Huh,"_ Po thought to himself. _"They must have had a more serious argument or something. Just when things were getting pretty good."_

As it often did, Po's mind turned the situation into an action sequence.

_It looked as if the two masters would never admit that they had insanely huge crushes on each other, and any chances of them having a relationship, were doomed._

"_Oh no they're not!"_

_Just then an incredibly awesome warrior appeared out of nowhere!_

"_Fancy dinner!"_

_The two masters showed up dressed in very nice outfits. A table with a fancy dinner on it appeared between the two._

"_Candles! Music! Romantic setting!"_

_The things that were said were made so, and Shifu and Taia were sitting on a cliff overlooking the ocean, with the sun setting over the waves, and a waiter playing a violin._

"_Alcohol!"_

"_Po!" Shifu cried._

"_Maybe not!"_

_Then Shifu said, "Taia, due to the fact that we have now been on an incredibly romantic date, I now feel the need to ask you, will you marry me?"_

"_Yes!"_

"_Yay!"_

"_Wedding!"_

_After the wedding, the bride and groom turned the awesome warrior._

"_Oh, Dragon Warrior, I am so happy that I will never again force you train for ten hours straight!"_

"_Who want cookies?" Taia held up a huge plate of cookies._

"_Me!"_

Yes; that was it! He'd be the matchmaker! Then Shifu would be over the moon happy and Taia would make him almond with cinnamon drizzle cookies out the wazoo! It was all so perfect!

Except- He'd need help.

Po again glanced at Tigress. He then put his eyes forwards again, leaned next to her and whispered as softly as he could.

"I'd like to make an extension on our deal."

Tigress narrowed her eyes for a second before remembering what he was talking about.

She and Mantis both glared at Po for a quick second before rolling their eyes. Why had they agreed? And what was Po up to now?

But before they could confront him, Shifu stopped.

Taia and the others stopped as well. The red pandas angled their ears slightly, before turning to each other.

Shifu pointed at a tree. Taia nodded. They both looked at it, waiting.

The young warriors got in position waiting to see just what was going on.

Then someone came out from behind the tree; a red panda with dark brown markings.

"Hey," he said as he sped towards the members of his species, stopping right in front of the female, whom he stared at intently.

Taia's eyes widened. "Kahn?"

"Hey, there," the red panda, said in an awkward fashion.

"_Oh crap," Taia thought. "Him again? I don't feel like being drooled on!"_

"Who's this?" Shifu asked his friend.

"This is Kahn."

"I'm you know, a kind of sort of friend of hers," Kahn said still rather awkwardly. He appeared to be about Shifu and Taia's age; however he seemed incredibly nervous.

"So, uh, you know, uh, who're, well, who are you?" he asked Shifu.

"Kahn this is Tigress, Mantis, Po, and my friend Shifu."

"Oh so, uh, you're her friend too, huh?"

"Yes, I am," Shifu replied. What was this guy's problem? He kept glancing back and forth between him and Taia, and tugging on his shirt collar.

"Shifu this is Kahn's land, so I think we should probably hurry up." Taia quickly turned and started power walking away from Kahn.

"Oh no, no!" Kahn began racing after her. "You know I'm always good with you being here! I like it when you're here! I like you! I don't know why I'm shouting!"

"Yeah, no, that's okay, we _really_ _have _to hurry." Taia motioned for the others to follow her. She was not in the mood for Kahn following her around with his tongue hanging out.

Tigress, Po, and Mantis followed Taia. Shifu went too with Kahn following close behind.

"So, um, how well do you know each other?" Kahn asked the master next to him.

"We've known each other for a long time," Shifu replied stiffly. He didn't like this guy. He looked like an idiot.

"How do _you_ know each other?" he asked.

"Oh, uh," Kahn stuttered, once again tugging at his collar. He was dressed very nicely, in some of the finest clothes Shifu had ever seen. Kahn appeared to be rather rich.

"Well, my brother was married to her sister, and uh, well, you know, after both Kara and my brother died we haven't seen much of each other."

"That's too bad," Shifu said no less stiffly.

"Yeah! I mean it really is because," Kahn faltered even more now. "Well you know because, well…"

"Because, what?" Shifu asked, wishing this guy would shut up; he couldn't blame Taia for not wanting to talk to him.

"Well, you know. I kind of, sort of, well…Love her."

**A/N: Oh yeah! Hadn't updated in a while so I cranked this out. Voila! Oh and I hope Po's action sequence wasn't confusing for anyone. R&R!**


	11. Chapter 11

Shifu froze.

"What?" he asked as calmly as possible.

"You know. I love her."

"Oh." **WHAT?**

"Is that a fact?" he asked Kahn, still straining to keep his temper in check.

"Yeah," Kahn replied. He then turned quickly towards Shifu and asked, "That's not a problem is it? I mean if you have something with her-

"No! I mean, uh, no," he stuttered. "Nothing at all."

"Oh! Well that's great!" Kahn said rather excitedly; for a second there he had worried that he might have competition.

_Yeah it's super_, Shifu thought. Why did he suddenly have a strong urge to turn this guy into a punching bag?

Despite Taia's obvious and quite avid attempts to ward Kahn off, he continued to follow her, making a fool of himself and annoying everyone in the group.

"We've got to shake this guy!" Po said to his comrades. "Any ideas?"

"Yes, but all of them involve punching him in the jaw in order to shut him up!" Tigress

replied in a furious whisper.

"Whatever we do, we'd better do it soon," Mantis added. "Shifu and Taia look like they're about to have a major smack down on the guy."

It was an understatement. As of the moment Taia was mentally going over various knife techniques and Shifu was trying to remember if there were any nearby water sources and/ or cliffs.

_Why oh why, can't he take a hint?_ Taia asked silently.

_Why can't he take a hint? She obviously doesn't like him! What makes him think that he has a chance? She has much higher standards!_ Shifu thought to himself.

_Or, does she? What if she does like him? What if she's just pretending not to like him in order to act 'coy' or whatever? What if as soon as she gets back they go and get married and run off into the sunset and end up opening their own little B&B? What if-?_

"Well Kahn it looks like this is where your land ends!" Taia cried forcefully, breaking into Shifu's rather unpleasant train of thought, for which the grandmaster was _very_ grateful.

"Yeah, the cart stops here!" Mantis cried even more forcefully then Taia had.

"Yeah so you'd better just skedaddle on back to your mansion, or whatever," Po added, trying to help. "Because we're on a mission and it is just as important as it is dangerous!"

"Dangerous?" Kahn cried, looking even more nervous than usual.

"Po shut up!" Taia whispered furiously.

"Yep," the panda continued. "You never know what you might run into! Bandits, poisonous plants, raging waterfalls, seas of boiling lava, cliffs overlooking a valley full of really pointy rocks…"

"And that's just saying that we don't die of dehydration or perhaps starvation first," Tigress felt it was necessary to add.

"Plus there's heat stroke!" Mantis cried.

"Oh I hate heat stroke! You always feel like you're going to throw up but you can't-

Throughout this lovely exchange, Taia had been signaling like mad to try to shut them up. She now leapt up and slapped a hand over Po's huge mouth.

Kahn after hearing all of this, looked one hundred percent terrified.

"Taia, I don't think you should go!"

"They're just joking, Kahn, the entire thing is actually really safe!" The red panda lady was desperate to try to smooth things over; if Kahn decided that things were too dangerous he would try to stop her. When he tried to stop her, there was always a big scene.

"But Taia," Kahn walked over to where Taia was now standing. "What if something happens to you?"

"Then I'll handle it," she replied, gritting her teeth.

"B-But," he grabbed her hands and placed them on his heart. Shifu made a fist so tight that his knuckles turned white (which was impressive, considering how dark his hands were).

"I mean well what if you, I mean what if you..." Kahn trailed off looking as if he was about to cry.

Po and Mantis looked away; they were getting grossed out.

Taia paused, took a deep breath, and gulped down her pride.

"Kahn, sweetheart," she spoke in a soft sweet voice that made the rest of them cringe. "You don't have to worry about _a thing_! I know _exactly _what to do! I'll just be gone for a few days and then I'll come right back here; to you."

While she was speaking, she had been gently running her thumb up and down his. She now leaned forward and placed a light kiss on his cheek.

Kahn looked like he was going to pass out. Shifu looked like his head was going to explode.

"Okay?" she asked him, still softly.

The male dumbly nodded his head, his tongue hanging out slightly.

"Good." Taia reached her hand up, placed them on his shoulders, turned him around, and shoved him off in the direction of his home.

He stumbled off occasionally glancing back over his shoulder. To everyone's delight he hit a tree just before moving out of sight.

Shifu watched him go, a sense of relief washed over him, quickly replaced by a sense of worry.

"We need to get going," he said.

He glanced over at Taia and added, "Hopefully we won't get any more tag-a-longs."

Taia groaned as they went back to walking.

"I know he's horrible! But he's like a big little kid and I can't just tell him to buzz off, can I?"

Shifu snorted. "You've never had any trouble with that before. As I recall, you simply couldn't resist telling people off!"

Taia blew a raspberry in reply.

"Yes, I seem to recall a rather interesting occurrence involving a fruit vendor," he continued.

"Oh, don't start _that_ again!"

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't," he stated smugly.

"Because you're nice."

The old master snorted again.

"All right, all right," Taia admitted. "Maybe you're not so nice. But then neither am I."

Shifu's eyes widened and he turned towards her quickly.

"What are you talking about?"

Taia shrugged, in what seemed like a nonchalant fashion.

"Well it's just that we have a lot of time to kill and I don't think the student's would mind hearing a _story_ or two. Would you, guys?"

Po shook his head.

"No, a story sounds great!"

"Yeah, it's just what we need," Mantis added enthusiastically.

Tigress shrugged. "I'm fine with that."

"Well let's see… I could tell you about the time Shifu and I tried to paint his room and how he managed to get a huge brown spot on the back of his head."

Shifu glared daggers.

"You shut up."

"Or about the time when we were sent on our first real mission and the events that caused us to get captured."

"Shut up."

"Or I could even tell you about this interesting little birthmark he happens to have on his-

"SHUT UP!"

At this point Mantis and Po couldn't hold it in any more and burst out laughing; what could they say? The fact that someone could tease their master and not get beaten up for it was still both surprising and enjoyable to watch. Heck, even Tigress couldn't help but snicker.

Naturally, the grandmaster wasn't too keen on being laughed at. Why not try to retaliate?

"At least a birthmark is better than a tattoo."

Taia glared.

"You promised!"

"You promised about my, well, mark."

Taia rolled her eyes, despising the fact that she had lost the argument.

"Fine," she spat bitterly. "But what do I tell them now? You've already shot down all of the best ones! And don't you even think about making me tell them something about how you were such a 'model student'!"

"Is it my fault that I was studious?" he asked innocently.

Taia rolled her eyes and quit talking. Shifu wasn't sure what he'd said but decided not to push it.

They walked in silence for a while. Until Taia broke it.

"Yeah, you were studious all right," she said airily.

I don't like where this is going, Shifu thought nervously.

"Except of course when _Lila_ was in town!"

Shifu tilted his head back and let out a loud groan of agony.

"That's right! I went there!" Taia cried, throwing her arms in the air rather dramatically.

"Who's Lila?" Po asked.

Taia's face took on a dreamy air.

"Just the one and only true love of Shifu's life! His little 'Lotus blossom'" she looked to where her friend was grimacing.

"Isn't that right, 'Snookifu'?"

"Snookifu?" Po cried, right before he and Mantis burst out laughing; again. And again, Tigress had to slap a paw over her mouth when she heard the ridiculous pet name.

Taia couldn't help and cracked up too; she had known the pet name since she was sixteen, and Lila had finally agreed to go out with Shifu and it had become a real relationship. But it was still just so _funny_!

Shifu blushed a deep red. He hated being laughed at, especially by his students. He was used to Taia laughing at him. Goodness knows how many times he had laughed in her face.

But did she really have to bring up stupid Lila?

"That's enough!"

Only Tigress stopped laughing; and even then it was hard for her.

The master shook his head and went on ahead of everyone else. He could only imagine what Taia would tell them once they had stopped.

Lila had stopped by for a short visit once when they were thirteen and Shifu had developed a major crush. Taia of course didn't like Lila and called her cutesy but agreed not to tell anyone else, for Shifu's sake. After she left things went back to normal; that was until she showed up a few years later and stayed for six months (her father was rich and well… she could go any where she wanted and do what ever she wanted if he thought she was learning). For the first few months Shifu had acted like a loser around her; that was until Taia finally gave in and helped him out. He and Lila went out for about two months and became one of the cheesiest, most disgusting couples of all time. Taia avoided them at all times; Shifu assumed it was because she didn't like Lila.

Finally one day, Shifu's Lotus blossom had decided that she'd spent enough time 'playing'. When he had asked what she meant, she had flat out said that she'd been going out with him as a joke and because she wanted to see how long he would go for it; she hadn't liked him at all. She left a few days later.

"Hey Shifu!"

Pulling away from his own personal flashback, he turned around and looked to where Taia was running to catch up to him. He stopped and waited until she was standing next to him before continuing to move forward.

"Look, bud, I'm sorry I brought it up. I really am. I know how you felt after she screwed you over."

Shifu looked over at her. Her face and eyes held understanding and a slight sympathy.

He shook his head. "So what? I was a teenager! Besides, I never really liked her anyway."

Taia chuckled to herself. "Yeah, you weren't really focused on the contents, but more on the case of the scroll itself."

Shifu chuckled as well. It was true; the main reason he had liked Lila had been a rather 'shapely' matter.

"By the way," he said suddenly. "I don't think I ever really thanked you for not making fun of me right away; I don't think I could have handled it if you'd laughed two seconds after she left."

"Well, I'm not completely heartless!"

"Surprisingly enough!"

They both snickered a bit more at their wry humor.

"I'm just glad you don't mind anymore. Because let's face it, you guy's were _gross_!"

Shifu laughed, "We were weren't we? Remember how she and I used to play feetsies and kissy face?"

"You guys played kissy face?"

Po had chosen that particular moment to show up.

"Yeah all the time," answered Taia.

"Wait a second; how can the two of you be in a non-romantic relationship, if you used to make out?"

Shifu looked confused for a moment before realizing what was going on.

"Oh no, no, no! She meant with my ex-girlfriend."

"Taia made out with your ex-girlfriend?"

Mantis and Tigress had arrived, the insect being the one to comment.

"No!" Shifu cried.

"Oh, okay."

The master rolled his eyes and the group once again set off.

He and Taia ended up playing the 'remember that one time' game.

"Remember that one time when we…

"And then we ended up…

"Oh my gods that was insane!"

"They're pretty cute together," commented Tigress as she watched her master and his friend chatter away.

"I know, right!" Po cried.

"They must be, if even _you_ noticed," Mantis spat in Tigress's direction causing the feline to growl.

"What's your problem?" Po asked.

"What's my problem? What's my problem? _WHAT'S MY PROBLEM?_ My problem is that I'm tired and hungry and you're asking _stupid questions_!"

"Shifu help! Mantis is having a hunger attack!"

"Oh no! Somebody find food!"

Everyone rushed around hoping to find sustenance for the angry green warrior.

"I found a fruit tree!" Taia shouted.

Po quickly rushed the seething Mantis over and crammed a round red fruit into his tiny mouth.

Mantis chewed furiously and had to be reminded to breathe. He eventually calmed down.

"I think it's safe to say that we should take a break for a while," Shifu announced.

"Agreed," the group, except Mantis, responded.

Po gathered large handfuls of fruit and sat down to share them with Tigress and the still slightly shaking insect.

Shifu peered up at the tree, studying the fruit, trying to decide which would be the best.

_Ah, there._ There it was; up at the top. Nature's way of making a person work for the best.

The grandmaster tossed his walking stick to the side and quickly scaled the tree, maneuvering around the many branches.

Finally he was at the top. There hung his prize; the reddest, juiciest, most perfect fruit on the tree.

He reached forward to grab it; and found another hand already upon it.

"Looks like we both had our eyes on the prize, huh, bud?"

"Naturally," he told Taia. "We both know how to work for the best."

"Yep. Slight problem though; who _gets_ the best?"

"Simple," he replied. He tossed the fruit high into the air leapt up and chopped it in half, straight down the middle.

Taia leapt up herself, and caught the two halves. The two of them fell towards the ground and landed on their feet.

"Both of us."

Taia grinned. "As always."

"_As _always," he agreed taking a half from her.

Taia smirked before biting into her half of the fruit and Shifu watched as she licked it and sucked on the juice.

_Her lips look so soft. _

Wait a minute! What was he doing? Staring at her lips. Pah! What did he care if her lips were soft and moist? What did he care if her fur was smooth and soft? What did he care if she still had a _great_ figure? Why the answer was simple! He didn't care! Not now, not ever!

_Taia is my friend. The fact that she is somewhat pretty and slightly attractive means nothing. And even if it did, which it doesn't, I am the Grandmaster and have no interest in a relationship. Especially not with a woman whose idea of good time is jumping into the lake, fully clothed._

The last thought made him chuckle slightly.

"What's so funny?" Taia asked.

He smiled at her, forgetting about his previous thoughts.

"Oh I was just recalling the first time a certain skinny little pipsqueak shoved me into the lake."

She grinned. "I still say it was your own fault! You wouldn't shut up."

"_I _wouldn't shut up? Well if that isn't the pot calling the kettle black!"

"_Now_ who's using stupid sayings, huh?"

A playful argument proceeded and the two older masters moved forward.

"They're so perfect for each other I can't stand it! It's like you're watching a show and you keep waiting for this one really awesome thing to happen, but it just never happens! And all of this random stuff happens that just makes the situation even more complicated! " Po cried, freaking out slightly.

"You mean like a soap opera?" Mantis offered.

"Yes!"

Tigress shook her head. "Po, calm down. If Shifu and Taia truly love each other, then they will eventually say so."

"That's what you think! If Shifu has his way he's going to die alone! I'm telling you guys we _have_ to help them!"

The striped warrior sighed. When Po was this excited, arguing was next to pointless.

"Fine! What do you propose we do?"

Po thought for a moment. "Well first of all, we can't let them out of our sights for a second!"

"Oh yeah," Mantis said sarcastically. "Because having people hanging over their shoulders 24/7 is just _so_ romantic."

Po glared. "I'm just saying that we should monitor the situation, _Mantis_!"

"Fine! Do whatever you want, _Po_!"

Mantis hopped off hoping to get away from the black and white warrior for a while.

"And just FYI," he called over his shoulder. "If you want to 'monitor' the situation, how come you're letting them get almost half a mile ahead of you?"

Po realized the insect was right and dashed forward to catch up with everybody. Tigress rolled her eyes and followed. She couldn't wait to get back home.

When the three masters caught up with the rest of the group they realized that the two red pandas were staring at something.

They walked forward to see what exactly it was; and then all three jaws dropped.

In front of them there was nothing except air. The ground was at the bottom of a fifty yard wide gorge, with nothing but a bed of sharp rocks at the bottom to cushion a person if they happened to fall.

A thin rope bridge swung in the breeze, the rotting boards just barely staying attached to the frayed rope.

"Well," Taia broke the silence. "Crud."

**A/N: Author: Cough. So uh, yeah. I had fun writing the part about Lila. I hope you hate her as much as I do. R&R! R&R! R&R! Oh and in case you forgot…. I don't own Kung Fu Panda. So there.**


	12. Chapter 12

Crud was right.

"Well, we can add this to the list of times that Po's jinxed us," Mantis announced.

Po grunted, in an agitated fashion.

"That's right! Blame the big guy! 'It's all Po's fault!' Well guess what? Not everything is my fault!"

Shifu, Tigress, and Mantis all looked shocked about this sudden outburst.

"Well excuse me!" Mantis shouted back. "It's just that you're not exactly the genius of the group!"

"Shove off _bug_!"

"Make me, _bear_!"

"That's enough!" Shifu announced.

The two of them quickly stopped arguing, but continued to shoot death glares towards each other.

"I don't know what's going on between you two; but what ever it is, it ends now!"

"Yes Master," they replied indignity buried in their tones.

"Good!"

Shifu paced back and forth a few times.

"This is most certainly not a time for arguing. If we're ever going to get across, we'll need an excess amount of teamwork and unity; understood?"

"Yes Master," the students again replied, this time Tigress included.

"Gotcha bud," Taia said.

The master gave a satisfied nod.

"Now then, any suggestions as to how to get across?"

Everyone studied the rope bridge, which was still gently swaying in the breeze.

"It seems to me," Tigress began. "That an appropriate course of action would be to have someone test the bridge to see if perhaps it _can_ support us, despite its looks."

"Sounds good," Taia said nodding towards Tigress. "Mantis why don't you test it out?"

It made sense; after all, the insect was the lightest.

Mantis hopped down from Tigress's shoulder and moved towards the bridge cautiously.

He looked over his shoulder to the rest of the group, who were all staring at him expectantly, before turning back around, giving a slight gulp, and stepping forward onto the first board.

Mantis pressed his legs onto the wooden plank. He walked around a bit and smiled.

"Well," he said turning around. "It looks like it can hold m- AUGH!"

The last word was cut off by screaming as the board broke straight in half beneath him and Mantis began to plummet towards the bottom of the gorge.

"MANTIS!" Po cried and lunged forward to grab his friend by his antennae.

"PO!" Tigress cried as the panda began to slip over the edge. She quickly grabbed his legs.

However she failed to stop them and began to slip over herself.

"TIGRESS!" Shifu cried and quickly lunged to grab onto his daughter's rapidly disappearing tail.

"EVERYBODY!" Taia shrieked as she snatched Shifu's tail.

The five of them desperately clung to each other and looked around at the position in which they were now stuck.

Po barely had a grip on Mantis's antennae, Tigress's palms were beginning to sweat and lose their grip, and both she and Shifu were straining to not cry out from the pain of having their tails stretched. Taia was desperately digging her heels into the earth; if she lost a single one of them she knew she'd never forgive herself.

"Taia," Shifu gasped out. "Don't let go!'

"I won't," she said fiercely. She'd never let him go. Never again.

…..

"GAH! For the last time! I will not make you pudding!" Ming shouted.

The black furred rabbit was at her wit's end. Since Taia had left the kids had behaved next to perfectly; it was a certain blue eyed snake that was driving her nuts.

"I told you no!"

"But I'm _hungry_!"

Steam poured from Ming's ears.

"Then go get something for yourself," she growled close to bursting at the seams. "I am busy. And if you bother me one more time, I will strangle you with my bare paws."

Deng gulped. Ming had gone from screaming to the horrifying shaky angry that he knew too well from his father.

"I'll just go talk to the kids I guess," he squeaked and quickly slithered out of the kitchen.

Ming sighed and went back to cleaning up the dishes left over from lunch.

As the soapy water splashed and surrounded her paws she sighed again. Was this all her life would ever be? Why couldn't she find her happiness?

_Because he took it with him _she thought to herself.

_Oh Gang_ she thought. _Why did you have to leave me?_

It had been so long ago. She swore to herself that he would be the last person she would ever use the l-word on. Now that her fur was turning white around her eyes, it didn't really matter anyway. No one could ever want her.

Deng had slithered out into the living room where there were a few people huddled into their own little groups. They glared at him as he passed.

The young snake hung his head. They knew who his father was and what he did. For that, no one who was related to She Du could be deemed trustworthy.

Deng remembered his mother explaining that to him; that not everyone thought his father was as great as she did. How wrong she had been; _no one _liked his father. And for that, Deng could never be more than She Du's son. He could never be his own person. Never.

He headed over to where Li and Hope were. Hope was curled up on her blanket blinking sleepily. Li was practicing writing jokes, writing and crossing out lines, and writing some more.

"Hey guys."

"Hi Dengy," Hope yawned and snuggled deeper into her precious blanket.

Deng smiled to himself. They loved him, the kids. Taia's kids that is. The rest found him frightening.

"Where's the Benj-man?"

"At the window," Li said looking up. "He's watching for Mom."

The snake nodded understandingly and glanced over to where the red panda was sitting, a piece of paper in his lap that he was using to keep track of the days. Deng knew what it was like to miss your mother.

"How are you holding up?" he asked and nuzzled his nose against one of Hope's soft ears.

Li shrugged.

"Fine I guess; it's just kind of weird not knowing when or if she'll come back."

Hope sat straight up at these words.

"She _is_ coming back! She promised! She crossed her heart!"

The small girl stomped her foot a few times.

"Of course she's coming back," Deng said easing her back down onto the floor. "You just rest."

Hope stuck her tongue out at her older sister as she lay back down and slipped into a dream filled with cotton candy.

Li glared.

"You don't know that," she whispered angrily.

"Sure I do," said Deng. "You're mom will always come back; she loves you."

_Unlike some parents._

He pushed the thought away. No use thinking about his dad when he didn't need to.

"I'm going to head out; before I make Ming explode!"

Li nodded and Deng gave Hope's ear another nuzzle. Why couldn't every one just accept him, the way the kids and Taia and even Ming did?

Before leaving, Deng went and gave Benji a quick hug. The small boy barely looked at the snake that was squeezing him. He worried that if his eyes left the path for even a millisecond he would miss his mother coming home.

"Don't worry kid. She'll be back."

As Deng headed home, he couldn't help but ponder over everyone's situation.

They all had a warm place to live. Food, water, and company. They should be perfectly happy, every single person that lived in the big house.

But no one was, not even Taia when she was there with them. They all wanted more.

The guests wanted a home of their own. The kids wanted their mom to be home every day. Ming and Taia both wanted something that they couldn't seem to put their fingers on. And him? He wanted people to see him. Not his father; him.

He thought this as he arrived at the iron hell.

He was let in immediately; sometimes he wondered if perhaps the guards didn't think that She Du had a son, and that it was the snake lord himself.

Deng headed towards his room, desperate to avoid his father's chambers.

Lately She Du had spent more and more time locked away; most likely planning something. What, Deng didn't know. If only ignorance could really _be_ bliss.

When he reached his room he looked around and sighed. It was next to bare with just a small bamboo mat on the floor and a picture on the wall.

The family portrait. There was his father in the center, as always, his blue eyed mother, staring at his father as if he was the most wonderful thing that could ever be. And there was him; his tiny snake head just barely poking up on his father's left. He was smiling, his baby fangs glistening; that had been a long time ago. He missed those days.

Deng sighed again and curled up on his mat.

Back at the big house, Ming sighed as she rested in a chair. She stared at the ceiling, too tired to do anything besides feel sorry for herself.

In the living room Li growled as he crumpled up the paper and hurled it at the wall. It was useless; she was too worried.

It had been the dry season. The girl shuddered as she recalled streaks of fire licking the dry lawn and leading up to their wooden hut. She had been rushed outside and set far away from the blaze. Her father had promised to be right back. He hadn't kept that promise.

Hope whined in her sleep. She was remembering something from long ago; freezing cold water surrounding her and trying to pull her down, down into the murky depths.

Benji wiped his nose on his sleeve and brushed a tiny tear from his eyes, as the sound of a liquor bottle shattering against the wall pushed itself back into his mind. Then he stopped.

_I'll leave them there _he decided._ When she's back, she can dry my eyes for me._

It was official. They were miserable.

….

Taia breathed slowly, trying to keep calm.

"Okay," she called, her voice straining a bit from the effort of holding every one. "Any bright ideas?"

"Can you pull us up?" Po called up to her, praying that nobody's grip would slip.

The red panda gritted her teeth and began to walk backwards, slowly.

It was no use; they hadn't noticed earlier, but the earth was muddy and she couldn't get enough friction to haul them up.

"That won't work!"

She paused for a moment.

Then she called, "I have a plan! But you have to trust me!"

"No problem!" Mantis shouted. "I'll do anything!"

"Me too!" the panda called.

"That makes three of us!" Tigress agreed her voice straining.

There was silence.

"Shifu?" Taia asked.

More silence.

"Shifu, you can trust me!"

The master squeezed his eyes together tightly. How could he?

"Shifu," Taia said again. "I'm sorry, okay! I'm sorry I left things like that! I know how upset you were, how we both were! But right now you need to trust me!"

Shifu grimaced. Then he craned his head around as much as he could.

"I promise," Taia said as he stared into her emerald green eyes. "I will _not_ let you fall!"

He his head back around and looked below him. His students stared at him, desperate for reassurance.

He remained silent for another moment. Then he swallowed it all; all of the anger and sadness from that night.

Shifu turned back to her emerald eyes; and nodded.

She nodded back. Then she cleared her throat.

"Okay!" she called. "This is going to be a little tricky, but nothing we can't handle."

Taia paused a second before continuing.

"I'm going to throw you in the air! You'll land on the bridge-

There were a few uncomfortable noises from below, at the thought of having to get back on the Bridge of Death, as Po now referred to it.

"And then everyone is going to have to run as fast as we can! I'm assuming you all know how to run on top of falling objects?"

"Yes, I've taught them!" answered Shifu.

Taia nodded. "I thought so! Now that's a skill that we're going to have to use! Is everyone clear?"

After everyone replied that they were both clear and ready to run, Taia breathed.

_Careful _she told herself. _You can't lose him._

Wait, no! Them! Them! Them! Shifu wasn't the only one! Why was she so focused on him? And why she thinking about this _now?_

She breathed in again. Then, using Shifu's tail, she swung them back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth.

Then, they were airborne.

Po felt his feet hit the boards; instead of waiting for the pressure to sink in, he shot forward!

Tigress dashed along the planks as lightly as she could just ahead of Po, making sure to keep her claws tucked in.

Mantis went into his own special top gear, speeding along the rope handles reaching the other side first.

Shifu and Taia had both been jogging and leaping on top of the boards that had been falling behind the students. Then there weren't any boards to run on; they had all fallen after Po had somersaulted, bowling Tigress over, and taking both of them to the other side.

In a split second Taia panicked. There was absolutely nothing beneath her feet and in another millisecond she would be falling.

But then, she felt a pair of hands, small but strong, grip hers and flip her forward.

Shifu had managed to get up onto the weak rope and grab her just in time, and they were now doing two-person cartwheels along the rapidly decaying rope.

"They're going to make it!" Tigress cried happily.

It seemed that way; until the rope gave out at the other end and fell down, the frayed end quickly heading towards the rock.

The two masters cart wheeled faster and faster, but it was no use; the rope couldn't hold them as it fell.

Mustering up a great deal of strength, he took control, launched Taia in the air, and kicked her to the other side.

Taia's feet hit the edge and she spotted Shifu falling.

_Oh no you don't!_

As fast as possible, she yanked Benji's throwing star out of her pocket and hurled it at a nearby tree, where the sharp edge lodged itself. She then grabbed the rope, threaded it through the center hole of the star, and tied the other end around her waist. After a quick check to make sure it was secure, she leapt over the edge.

Shifu was falling fast, and Taia needed to catch up. She dashed down the side of the gorge and leapt out at just the right second, grabbing him by the sash around his waist.

The female felt the wind escape from her as the rope tightened around her waist, squeezing her stomach.

They hung there, six feet above the ground. Shifu looked up, and they smiled weakly at each other. She'd kept her promise. He knew she would.

Then they were moving up; the students pulled at the rope hauling them up as carefully as they could manage.

When the two masters reached the top they lay down gasping for air. Taia got on all fours and kissed the ground several times.

Everybody stood in silence catching their breath.

Then Po broke it.

"THAT WAS AWESOME!"

"NO KIDDING!" Taia agreed wholeheartedly. "I haven't had that much fun in a long time!"

"I've got to find a way to make you less of a dare devil," Shifu said to his excited female comrade.

"Hey I don't look for danger," she said letting her palms face the sky. "It finds me!"

Shifu chuckled. He loved her excited smile.

Mantis and Po shared a quick 'manly' hug, and apologized to each other for their earlier argument. Shifu nodded to Tigress in his way of saying 'I'm glad you're alright'; she nodded back.

After a few rounds of high fives, everyone agreed that they needed to get moving.

"Taia," Shifu said turning towards her, and the students started moving forward.

"Yeah bud?"

"I'm sorry."

She beamed at him.

"I know!"

Shifu raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean you know?"

She shrugged as if it was obvious.

"Of course you're sorry! Who wouldn't be sorry after insulting the Almighty Goddess, Taia?"

Shifu rolled his eyes.

"For the last time! I refuse to call you a goddess!"

"Aw come on! You've got to admit I'm great!"

"Not _that_ great!"

"Yes that great!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"NO!"

Taia dashed over, raised her hands above her head and hip checked him.

Shifu's jaw dropped. He then pointed a finger in her face.

"You're dead!"

"No way! I'm faster! You'll never catch me!"

And with that she pulled Benji's throwing star out of the tree and dashed off.

_Come on _she thought. _Chase me, you big dummy._

Shifu grinned and shook his head.

_There's my crazy girl_ he thought and sped after her.

And he didn't even stop to realize that he had used the word my.

**A/N: Intense, no? A few things:**

**The first half is so depressing!**

**I realize that they had other options of escaping when they were hanging off the cliff. I don't care. I did it _my way!_**

**She called him a dummy because dummy and crazy girl are sort of pet names, and I wanted to introduce them.**

**R&R!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Just for clarification purposes, snakes don't have eyelids.**

…

Deng opened his mouth wide in yawn, slid his eyes open, and cast his blue gaze around the room.

It was bare. What had he expected? That he could wake up to discover that it had all been a nightmare? If only…

The young cobra sighed before slithering towards the door. With a slight glance behind him at the picture (just as nostalgic as ever), he breathed in, built up his chest and moved out of his room.

_Time to bust out the confidence…_he thought as he moved down the hall. Whenever in a funk, there were a few things that could get him out of it; food, fighting, and of course, music.

The snake bobbed his head up and down until he got into a rhythm, and then began to let out a steady whistle.

As he whistled and hummed along to the tune that he created in his head, the previous and depressing thoughts seemed to melt away. Ah, such, sweet escape.

The cobra whistled and bopped his way down the hallway. Without looking where he was going…

"You make me feel like dancing! Dance the ni- Oof!"

His song was interrupted when he smacked into a solid and somewhat scaly object, and fell backwards.

Deng shook his head and looked up. And immediately felt as if his very soul was being penetrated.

"Oh uh, hey, hey, hey there! How's it going Dad?"

Based on the glare She Du was delivering, the younger cobra would guess, not so well.

The blue eyed snake gulped slightly as he looked up at his much taller father. Plenty of people had developed strained relationships with their parents over the course of their lifetimes. The two of them took it to a whole new level.

"Really ssson? Disssco?"

Deng used his tail to give a sheepish shrug.

"Well you know, Dad," Deng chuckled nervously.

"Hmmm," She Du muttered, narrowing his gaze even more. He then raised his head up slightly, so that he was looking down on his offspring.

"I mussst ssspeak with you in my officcce," he hissed.

He turned and began slithering in that very direction. When he realized that his son wasn't following he looked back behind himself.

"Now."

Deng let out a much larger gulp this time. He then slowly moved forward, following She Du towards his chambers.

_What does he want?_ He wondered.

When they reached the large iron doors, She Du immediately entered.

Deng, however, paused for a moment, before slowly gliding inward.

"So, uh," he mumbled. "What was it you wanted to, you know, see me about?"

The cobra had been watching the weapons that were on the wall as if they could jump out at him any time. This explained why he didn't notice that his father hadn't stopped in the office, and had instead moved on, through a second iron door, to the next room.

When he did notice, he nervously moved over to the next door, and gulped for the third time.

He carefully poked his head in and glanced left and right trying to spot any traps; his father certainly wasn't above risking the lives of others in order to protect his precious secrets.

Once he was sure things were clear, he entered. A few seconds later he heard the door slam shut behind him.

_Scary…_

The room was completely dark, except for a rusty overhead oil lamp in the center, which hung over a small round table. What appeared to be a chessboard lay on top. On closer inspection, a person could see that in actuality it was a gridded map of China.

She Du looked down over the map, with his back to Deng. The cobra reached his tail up onto the table and lifted one of the small wooden figures that adorned the board.

While squeezing it he spoke, "Come here my ssson."

Again Deng gulped. What could his father be doing?

As calmly as he could, the young snake moved forward until he was slightly behind and to the right of his frighteningly silent father.

"Yes sir?"

While still studying the map, She Du replied, "What do you sssee before you, my ssson?"

Deng leaned his head forward slightly, to see the map better. The provinces were clearly marked out, and each one had a wooden figure or two placed on it, with a particularly large snake-shaped one over their own province. There were also two small wooden buildings; one where the Imperial Palace was located and another over the spot that Deng knew to be the Valley of Peace.

"Um, I see China, father," he replied simply.

"Yesss," She Du commented absentmindedly. He raised the wooden figure closer to his nose, before setting it down on the map once more.

"China," he continued. "My China."

That caught Deng's attention.

"Yours, father?"

The senior cobra let out a small chuckle.

"Yesss, my ssson. MY China. Or, at leassst, it will be, sssoon enough."

That _really_ didn't sound good!

"Forgive me, sir, but I afraid that I don't quite-

"DON'T YOU SSSEE IT?" She Du thundered. But, this wasn't his usual variety of yelling. Normally it was filled with rage… THIS was filled with what Deng could only describe as raw insanity!

"CAN YOU NOT COMPREHEND?" he bellowed once more, a maniacally large smile plastered on his face. "JUSSST LOOK! I have done it! In the passt few weekss I HAVE DONE IT!"

Deng, who was starting to wonder if father was on drugs (or perhaps had forgotten to take some), nervously inquired, "Done what, father?"

"I have sssecured it! My sstatuss! There is no chanccce of failure! NONE!"

"Ummm…"

"Look!" She Du suddenly grabbed his son by the back of his neck and thrust his head forward. "Jusst look at it! You sssee these figuresss? Each one of them is a foothold! A ssupporter! An ally!"

She Du loosened his grip on Deng's throat and moved to the other side of the board.

"Every ssingle one of these repressentss ssomeone high up in that particular province! Ssomeone on top, who I have been able to bring to my sside! They have followersss as well; people who are willing to help!"

"Ummm…"

"Yesss…" She Du continued, finally calming down, to Deng's relief. "With their help, I will form my army… And then the Emperor-

"The Emperor?" Deng cried.

"YESSS!" He replied, again yelling without warning, and scaring the daylights out of his son. "The Emperor! Or at leasst that is what they call him for now… Before long that will be me! _**I **_shall be atop the throne!"

Deng's jaw dropped wide open in a mixture of fear and shock.

"Y-y-you can't mean," he stuttered.

"YESSS!" his father cried and thrust his face into his son's.

"Don't you sssee? Right now, as we sspeak the Emperor is at his weakessst! With his wife ill, he has half of his Imperial Army, as well as ssseveral memberss from the Jade Palace out ssearching for a cure! If things go according to my plan, then none of the other masterss within China will even hear of thiss, until it is already too late for them to try to fight us off!"

"Us?" Deng questioned, still trying to wrap his mind around what his father was telling him.

"My army! We shall band together and storm the palace! The 'Emperor' will be thrown in custody! The rest of the kingdom will have no choice but to follow my orders if they want their precious monarch to be kept alive! The army shall protect me and provide me with information of any form of resistance there may be! Every single solitary speck of hope or joy will be snuffed out immediately! Until finally I will have done it! I will be the Emperor!"

Suddenly She Du leapt up onto the table and pointed lifted his face to the skies.

"_**I WILL RULE ALL!" **_

She Du then jumped down off the table and came close to Deng.

"There is just one thing that must be done… The Savior…"

His eyes once again lit up with anger, the way Deng decided he preferred them.

"That pesst! I will never understand how, after all of these years, I _still _haven't been able to dispose of him! Every time I turn he'ss sstolen away more of my prisoners!"

_Well first of all, he is a she, _Deng thought privately. _Second __**she **__could kick your scaly tail in two simple moves…_

"Yeah! I mean with that _guy_ in the way, how can you do anything? I mean _he _just seems to know _our_ every move," he said, trying to support his father… Sort of.

She Du smiled, then.

"That is exactly why I need you, my son."

Deng held back a startled gasp as his father gently wrapped his tail around the area where his shoulders would have been.

"I am entrusting you with the job of tracking and destroying The Savior. Once he is out of the way, we shall move forward! It's all up to you; but don't worry."

He grinned ever so slightly.

"I have faith in you, my son."

"Well, uh, gee! Thanks dad…" _GAH! Why did you have to choose now of all the times in the world to start a healthy father-son relationship?_

She Du nodded.

"Yesss… Now then! Go! Hunt him down, and bring him forth! I may not have been able to ssstop him; but you are trussted within the public, and will surely be able to learn a thing or two… Ass a matter of fact, I'm not entirely sure why I never thought of it before… Well? What are you waiting for? Go!"

Deng quickly nodded and shot straight out of the dark room, out of the office, and out of the prison itself.

When he reached the bamboo forest, he gasped for breath, desperate for some sort of unique and preferably, helpful, inspiration to come to him.

_What am I going to do? WHAT am I going to DO?_

…**..**

Pink flowers sprouted and bloomed everywhere in sight. There were dozens upon dozens of cherry trees thriving. The sun was currently dipping itself just below the horizon.

Taia shook her head in disgust. Everything was PINK! This, surprisingly enough, was her absolute least favorite color.

Her partner chuckled; he had always found it humorously ironic that she despised this particular color, despite the fact that her _fur_ was pink.

She heard him chuckling at her discomfort and quickly turned towards him to deliver a loud, wet raspberry.

Normally he would have ignored a childish action such as this. However…

"THBBBBBBT!"

Taia's jaw dropped as she watched him return the raspberry ten fold. She was definitely NOT going to let him get away with that!

"THBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBTTTTT!"

Shifu refused to admit that he had been defeated by her superior raspberry skills! He quickly stuck out his tongue and made an odd noise, sort of like a 'DOI'. He quickly got a brain dead zombie moan in return.

Soon the two were waged in a battle of goofy faces and noises, and neither of them realized that the students were shaking their heads and laughing at this entire display.

Finally, the war ended, when at last Taia reached over and pinched him HARD signaling that he should knock it off, if he knew what was best for his health.

He shook his head and chuckled once more. Taia tilted her head back and laughed out loud. He'd always liked that about her; she didn't let out tiny girlish giggles and then try to hide them behind her hand like some of the women that he had met. Instead when she thought something was funny, she told it to the world.

Shifu gave a hearty laugh himself, and she gave him a wide grin, glad that she was able to make him happy. That had been their jobs growing up together; whenever one was sad, it was the others duty to make them comfort them and make them smile once more. And after so many years of practice, they had gotten pretty good at it.

Po smiled to himself at how happy the two diminutive masters looked. It fascinated him; the way the two knew each other so well and seemed to have their brains in sync.

_I wonder if I'll ever have that…_

For some reason, the panda found himself glancing over at Tigress, who was smiling at the sight of her master. In the months since they had been to Gongmen City, she has loosened up more than ever before. Po couldn't help but maybe wonder if it had something to do with the hugs they had shared.

He looked away and shook his head.

_I can worry about that sort of thing later. For now…_

He had to help Shifu. But how? True, his master and their newest female companion looked perfectly happy at the moment. But Po knew Shifu well enough by now to know that the odds of the red panda ever making any sort of moves or advances, were about a bazillion to one, and he doubted Taia was about to budge any time soon either.

But, again, how, HOW, was he going to assist them without having extra training or (based on Taia's roughness) a beating delivered?

While pondering the question, Po looked around to admire the flowers that surrounded them, for as far as the eye could see. He wasn't exactly an expert, but this was a pretty romantic spot.

Then, inspiration struck! Full force!

Tigress let out a slightly surprised cry as she felt her arm nearly being yanked out of its socket. She then felt lips being pressed close to her ear.

"I have an idea!" Po squeaked excitedly.

The feline rolled her eyes. She should have known!

"Okay, what is it?"

"What are we talking about?"

Mantis had joined in on the conversation, which was now being held in a strict, no voice levels above a whisper, form.

"Po has an idea."

"Oh, great," the insect said and rolled his eyes.

Po waved his paws frantically and said, "Don't worry this is a good one! Just listen!"

The two of them leaned in and carefully listened as their fuzzy friend whispered his plan to them.

"_That's_ what you want us to help with?" Mantis asked incredulously. "How is that supposed to help?"

"Trust me on this, you guys!" Po confidently replied. "I can assure you that this is a _good_ idea!"

_Just like all of his other good ideas, _Tigress thought somewhat bitterly; before remembering the fact that, due to her previous agreement, she had really no choice_ but _to go along with it.

With a slight shake of her head, she walked a few feet away and began gathering flowers in order to complete her part. Mantis sighed and picked a flower himself. Po readied himself behind the two unsuspecting victims.

Taia and Shifu walked side by side through the flowers. Shifu was moving through them, allowing the blooms to bend forward and spring back as he brushed past them. However, Taia was taking a bit of different approach.

"I have a question," he spoke. "I know you hate _wearing_ pink, but is that really any reason to hate Nature's pink?"

She shrugged. "I guess not. Nature actually does make it look kind of pretty."

"If you think that, then would you do me a favor and please quit stomping on them?"

Taia smirked. "Suddenly protective of flowers are you, Master Shifu?"

He rolled his eyes. "You know what I'm talking about." He didn't like her stomping; it was noisy and unsettling; he already had gone quite a while without meditating and her heavy footfalls weren't helping in the slightest.

"But you know that it is my mission in life to stamp out all that is soft and fluffy!"

"Flowers aren't fluffy!"

"The petals are soft!"

"Why are you against those things anyway? I never really understood!"

She groaned in a manner that suggested that her reason for hating the color was painful to mention.

"Because, that's where it starts! First its flowers! Then it's wearing shoes for a day! The next thing you know, I could turn into a little old grandma who lives in a house filled with ribbons and lace, and a closet full of shoes that don't fit because I only bought them to match what every one else had!"

He shook his head. "You're paranoid!"

Taia had to give him that. "Be that as it may, I refuse to be dipped into cotton candy land!"

Shifu scoffed. "The day someone manages to get you into a skirt is the day that the Earth will implode!"

Her green eyes sparkled. "Aw! That's so sweet of you!"

The master couldn't help but chuckle; she'd always had a different perspective on what was sweet. After a while the two fell back into silence.

That is until Shifu felt a tap on his left shoulder. He looked to see what Taia wanted, but she was still facing straight ahead. Passing it off as nothing, he looked ahead as well.

Then Taia felt a tap on her right shoulder and looked to see if it had been Shifu; she too turned to face the front when he didn't seem to be the culprit.

Then they both felt taps, on the opposite shoulders this time, and looked to see if perhaps it was one of the students this time. And for the third time, neither of them saw anything.

They both turned then, to question each other. When the two got a good look at themselves, they stopped and gaped.

Somehow, Taia had wound up holding a large bouquet of the pink flowers and Shifu had one flower tucked into his robe where his button hole would be if he had one. But the biggest shock was that they had unexplainably ended up with her arm wrapped around his, as if he was escorting her.

Shocked, and not quite sure what to make of all of this, they looked in front of them and gaped once more. A narrow strip of flowers had been plucked when they weren't looking, and it led all the way to an open area beneath a cherry tree just ahead of them.

It was almost like… A WEDDING!

_OH MY GODS! _Shifu felt like shouting. Taia wasn't far off, although she had a bit more, shall we say, _colorful, _language in mind.

Instead of speaking, the two let out startled gasps, unlinked arms, took several steps apart, and tossed the flowers away.

"So, uh," Taia stuttered, trying to recollect herself, and laugh it off at the same time. "That was weird!"

"Oh, yes!" Shifu agreed. "Extremely weird!"

"Yeah," she mumbled and trailed off, not really sure what to say now.

The two looked at their feet for a minute or two before looking up at each other again. For a split second, they both wondered the same thing: What if we _did_ get married?

Their eyes connected for a moment or two. The sun had continued to set, pushing low over the mountains, and lighting up the sky with a brilliant red-orange blaze. The air was warm, with just a light breeze tickling their fur. Petal floated in the air, gently dipping up and down in the small gust of wind.

They continued to keep their gazes locked. Until finally, Taia couldn't take it anymore…

And burst out laughing.

That was all it took; and Shifu laughed as well, long and hard.

After they had laughed so hard, that they were bent in half, close to tears, they stood up straight, wiped their eyes, and smiled at each other. And then continued to move forward again, occasionally letting out small chuckles or snickers, and constantly grinning.

Tigress and Mantis both stood wide eyed.

"Whoa," Mantis said. "That was pretty good!"

"Yep," Po said rubbing his knuckles against his chest nonchalantly. "That's how it's done."

**A/N: Po's pretty good at what at he does. FYI you can still leave a review, even if you don't have an account. Just thought I'd mention that… (I love the reviews I'm getting! No I am not ungrateful!) Oh and also for clarification purposes: Yes there was a hint of PoXTi, but no they are not going to be a pairing that is focused on; though it may show up on an as-needed basis (as well as a few other pairings). **


	14. Chapter 14

Po rolled over once more, trying to get back into a comfortable position. They had been walking for almost 24 hours straight, so as soon as they were out of the field of flowers they had flopped down to rest. The Dragon Warrior felt like he could sleep for years…

"WAKE UP!"

Luck, it seemed, was not on his side.

The panda sat up straight, yelling at the top of his lungs. He then looked around for the source of the screeching noise that had dragged him away from a stadium filled with soup.

Jade green eyes darted around until they spotted emerald ones.

"It's about time! We've been trying to wake you for about a half hour! Honestly how could you be such a heavy sleeper?"

"_He's_ a heavy sleeper? _You_ once slept through a monsoon!"

Taia glared at him.

"This isn't about me! It's the fact that we have a deadline to meet! Now then," the female said relaxing slightly. "Where to next, bud?"

The two of them had woken up earlier than the students and she had briefed him on what they were headed for. She hated letting him have all the credit, but she had to admit, having him pretend to be the guide was a whole lot less stressful than her actually _being _the guide. If they happened to get lost, he would be getting the blame; although that of course wouldn't stop her from sharing the guilt.

"I'm sorry to admit that we've only just been through the easier part thus far," he began, and paced back and forth a bit. "We are about to head into bandit country, and after that it's on to the mountains. If we are lucky and don't stop very often, we should make it to the Dragon Stone in two days; although I should tell you that we are in for some serious running."

He stopped pacing and looked at the four of them.

"Is everyone clear?"

"Yes, Master."

"Good to go."

He nodded. "Let's move out!"

And they were off.

…**.**

A rotting shutter banged open from the force of the wind. Tiny sprinkles of rainwater dripped through the open window. The air inside reeked of rotting food and liquor. In the corner a tiny boy hugged his knees to his chest.

_What am I doing here? I thought that Mom-_

He stopped mid-thought when he heard a loud thump just outside.

The boy, as well as the hut itself, it seemed, became completely still for a moment.

There was no sound except for the pounding of blood rushing in and out of his ears.

Then the door creaked open. A short man shuffled in, a bottle of booze in hand. Bloodshot eyes darted around the room trying to adjust to the hut that was even darker than the surrounding woods.

"What're ya doin'?"

His voice came out in a croaking drawl.

"Hmmm," the boy squeaked in reply.

The man switched the bottle to his other hand and lumbered over to where his tiny counterpart. When he reached him his lip curled back in disgust.

"I thought I told you to stay away from me," he grumbled.

"I-I-

"I _thought_ I told you that once I left that meant that I wasn't comin' back."

"Dad I-

The man's eyes turned to fire in an instant.

"Are you talkin' to me?" he asked in a low growl. "Are you talkin' to me?"

"I-

The boys squeak was cut off when the man began shouting.

"What did I tell you? What did I say about talkin'?"

He whimpered.

"WHAT DID I SAY?"

The man reached down and dragged the boy forward by his shirt collar.

"Children are supposed to be _seen _and not _heard_," he hissed, tightening his grip on the boy's throat. "In your case they shouldn't even be seen."

They stayed that way for a few seconds, the man gripping the boy's throat, one pair of eyes filled with hatred and the other with tears.

The smaller one gulped then. "I'm sorry Daddy."

A sudden change came over the man. The anger left his eyes replaced with a sad stony expression; which was then again replaced with a face that many children would say belonged on a monster.

"You talked again."

The boys eyes widened and his lower lip trembled.

"I warned you boy."

His grip tightened around the neck of the bottle he was still holding. He raised it slightly.

"Maybe I need to give you another one of my lessons."

The boy watched as the bottle was raised high into the air. Suddenly it shot downwards aiming straight for his face.

…**..**

"**AUGH! AUUUUGH! AUUUUUGH!"**

Li shot up in bed at the sound of screaming.

Her first thought was that someone had broken into their room and was trying to kill him. So she did what any terrified eleven-year-old girl would do-

She jumped down off her bunk bed to help her little brother.

Instead of seeing someone trying to murder him, she instead saw Benji's sheet rolling and thrashing about, with him nowhere to be seen.

The rabbit immediately reached forward and tried to help the screaming ball of sheets that was her brother.

In the mean time, Hope had woken up at the sound of the yelling and was now screeching herself. And as many of us know, a four-year-old girl can have a very powerful set of lungs.

Li finally managed to pull the sheets off of Benji's head. The red panda's eyes shot open and he threw a terrified scream into his sister's face. Being half asleep and already a little freaked out, Li screamed herself.

"WHAT'S GOING ON?" cried Ming as she burst through the door. The weird lighting and the fact that she was carrying a knife for protection didn't help things.

"AAUGH!" screamed Li.

"_AAUUGGHH!"_ screamed Benji.

"**AAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHH!**,"screamed Hope.

"Whoa! Calm down!"

At Ming's words Li cut off her scream and Benji, breathing heavily, did the same. As for Hope… Well…

"**AAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGGGHHH!**"

Not so much.

Ming covered her ears and ran through a list of things that Taia would do to calm her down. Rock her? Sing to her? Give her a cookie?

Then she remembered. The rabbit lady crossed the room and, still covering one ear in the hopes that she could keep her hearing, reached down, picked up the girl's blanket, and dropped it over her still screaming head.

As soon as her head was covered, Hope's screeching stopped. The tiny girl pulled her blanket off her head, and rubbed her face against the soft familiar fabric.

_Now that that's settled…_

Ming looked over to where Benji was still panting and had just begun to shake. The rabbit tucked the kitchen knife back into her robe and slowly tiptoed over to him.

Now Ming may have not been a genius but she knew horror when she saw it; and that was what she saw now. Sheer terror filled Benji's eyes and covered his face. The blue-eyed woman knew of his past through Taia and the fact that he occasionally had night terrors. But she had never been around to see what to do.

Li came to the rescue, and wrapped her arms tightly around her little brother. Surprise came when she watched him do something that had only happened a few times before.

He sobbed onto her shoulder.

…

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry this was so short and sorry that things are sort of screwed up chronologically, and I am SO sorry that I was off for so long! Long story short I've been grounded for a while. Again sorry for the shortness… I just really needed to get this little piece out of my system. Isn't Li a great sister?**

**Mantis: Yeah she's great…**

**Author: But?**

**Mantis: BUT! Why are you so focused on the kids? And why are you so focused on stressing that Shifu and Taia are so cute, or whatever? And for the love of all that is good and holy, WHY DID YOU MAKE ME OUT TO BE A DOUCHE IN THE LAST COUPLE OF CHAPTERS?**

**Author: *death glare* Not to be rude, but well… *whips out megaphone* I'M THE AUTHOR AND I DECIDE WHO GETS HOW MUCH SCREEN TIME! SO _SHUT UP!_**

**Mantis: Geez! Calm down! You are such a psycho!**

**Author: *releases rabid dogs***

**Mantis: AUGH!**

**Author: Well, there you go. Please review. When you don't review my insides die a little. JUST KIDDING! Or am I…**


	15. Chapter 15

Blue eyes darted around in earnest.

_Which way? Which way?_

Finally he gave up and darted to the right.

_This is insane! What am I even going to say when (not to mention if) I find her? 'Excuse me, Taia? You know how you, Ming, and the kids have offered me kindness, compassion, friendship, and free meals for years? Well it turns out I'm going to be repaying you by turning you into my father (who by the way thinks you're a dude) who is planning on executing you and then taking over all of China! Isn't that just great?'_

The cobra groaned to himself. Why couldn't his mother have fallen head over tail in love with a _regular_ guy? Like maybe a lawyer or a doctor or something? Then instead of looking like a demon's spawn he could look _and live_ like an ordinary life (or at least as ordinary as any snake's life was).

After having a few nervous breakdowns, he'd finally set off in search of Taia. What else could he do? Stay behind and his father would find a way to hunt him down and (less than politely) ask why the heck he hadn't been looking for her. His father may have not been able to discover the big house, but he would definitely be able to find Deng anywhere else.

And hiding at the house wasn't a solution; it was a coward's way out. Not to mention how depressed the place seemed to make him lately. Things may have been lively and happy most times, but lately a strange air had settled over the clearing where the house stood, infecting everyone with worry and apprehension; which most likely explained why the kids were so freaked out lately. Deng had noticed that they always seemed to be on pins and needles when something bad was coming. Due to their past records, he couldn't blame them.

Resounding claps of thunder pulled his mind away from thoughts of the house. The snake slowed a bit and tilted his head back to study the sky. Presently it was covered with large blankets of salt and pepper colored clouds; not good. If it started raining things would only get more difficult; which was the last things he needed.

As he continued pressing on in desperate search for the fluffy tailed master, he continued asking himself why his mother had been crazy enough to fall in love with his father. He asked himself other questions besides this.

_Why did his mother have to catch pneumonia that one freezing winter? Why did Kara, her husband, and Ming's husband have to die leaving behind a depressed Taia, a clingy Kahn, and a crab of a rabbit? Why was Benji so miserable lately? His mom had left him alone before, but he'd handled it fine then. Why were there so many crappy parents in the world, and why did he happen to have one of them?_

_Was he going to make it out of this alive? And on that note, was ANYONE going to make it out of this?_

_Why did Dumbledore have to die?_

And above all, one specific question that had been rotating in his mind was: _Why oh why did the Empress have to get sick?_

…**.**

Only one person knew the answer to Deng's (last) question. And the answer was: because he'd needed her to.

With so many guards and other security measures, one would assume that it would have been difficult to break into the Imperial Palace. But for him it had been easier then remembering how to ride a bike (especially because of the whole 'no limbs' thing).

Slipping in had been the easiest part; injecting his venom into the Empress had been more problematic.

Why her instead of the Emperor himself? Well that was rather easy to answer. True the entire country would have been worried if he had been the one to fall ill. But his wife? Even greater was the worry! And rightfully so; if something happened to her there was no telling what the Emperor would do in his time of grief.

She Du had known that this would happen; unlike some people he had learned from his past. Yes, he had been rather harsh before the death of his wife; but after he lost her was when the belt had truly tightened. That was when all traces of caring had been erased from his already darkened heart.

He would never regret any of it. Never. After he had lost her, he saw happiness as a sort of creature that needed to be destroyed. And he was all too pleased in being the lead destroyer. Not to mention the rhino guards were of course too stupid (or in other words too afraid) to argue with him.

However he soon realized that while he had complete control of the province, China was still a very large place. There was still _so_ much happiness out there. Why should his power remain so limited?

Most of the heads of provinces had come to his side rather quickly, for one reason or another. Others had been a bit more… difficult to persuade. But in the end he had managed it.

Then there had just been the matter of the Emperor. Slipping in had been the easiest part; injecting his venom into the Empress had been more problematic. First, he had had to make sure that he gave her a weakened dose. That way instead of dying in a few minutes, she would grow weaker and weaker until finally she would be unable to go on. Her death would be slow and painful; just the way he liked it. Next he quietly slipped into the bedroom. The Emperor had been doing paperwork of some sort in his office. The Empress's tail hung over the side of the bed. Just a tiny nip to the tip… And silently slip out. After that there was just the matter of planting the map and picture of the Dragon Stone. As if someone would actually be able to find it after so long! The thought in itself was amusing.

The cobra looked down over his own beloved map. The tiny figures representing his allies… It was in an odd way comforting.

One wouldn't expect it, but he himself was the one who handled the executions at the prison.

So many lives… So many futures… They had all been snatched in a quick second. Even that one rabbit fellow… What was his name?

She Du lifted up one of his wooden figures and twirled it around in his tail trying to remember the name of that rabbit.

Oh, yes! Gang… He had been one of the rebels. He'd made it look as if he'd fallen from a tree and broken his neck. It was a shame that he hadn't been able to keep himself hidden. His downfall had been that he hadn't had a specific organization… Unlike… The Savior.

The snake squeezed his tail around the small figure until the little wooden head nearly popped off.

_How has he been able to escape my surveillance so many times? So many prisoners stolen… So many taken away from me…So many lives- SAVED! It's just wrong!_

A splintering sound drew his attention back to the wooden figure; or what was left of it. In his anger towards his archenemy he had crushed it. _Archenemy…_ It was rather an interesting term for him; even more so due to the fact that they had never even come face to face. But still it seemed appropriate.

The cobra slapped his whip-like tail against the ground in frustration.

_Don't worry about it, _a little voice in the back of his brain reminded him. _Deng's on the job._ Ah, yes! He had set his son on it…

She Du wasn't stupid. He knew that Deng knew more than he thought he knew (and Deng didn't know that!). The blue-eyed boy had never approved of his actions; it showed in his manner towards him. Then a few years ago he had started going somewhere in the middle of the night to return in the wee hours of dawn (or vice versa). Anyone would assume that either he had a love interest or he was part of a resistance. Given Deng's level of charm and suaveness… Definitely part of a resistance.

But pressuring him and scaring him out of his wits had definitely done the trick. She Du was sure that before the next day was over, he'd have The Savior on his knees begging for mercy.

The snake went back to studying his beloved map.

Yes everything was in order… And if the pesky Grandmaster and his students continued looking for the Dragon Stone long enough and no other masters arrived… Yes… Yes, he could pull this off yet.

"I wissh you were here darling," he said looking up towards the ceiling. "I know how much you would have enjoyed it."

…

Benji's black eyes slid open. He looked across him where Hope was curled up in bed. He angled his ear and listened to Li's slow and steady breathing.

_Good…_

Quietly, the way his mom had shown them, he slipped out from under his blankets. Once his feet were on the floor he paused a moment, to make sure his sisters were still asleep. Then he reached below his bed and pulled out a rucksack.

He carefully crept outside, and into the living room. He set the bag on the floor and opened it to look through the contents.

Map, compass, canteen of water, sandwiches, three cookies, pocket knife, extra pants (A/N: You _never_ know when you'll need extra pants), and a small painting.

He waited a minute to study the painting. It was set outside, during the summer, with a bit of sunlight filtering through the broad leaves of the overhanging trees. They were sitting on a picnic blanket. There was his mom, his sisters, Ming, and himself. Everyone was smiling; even Ming was managing a small grin.

Benji stared at the people in the painting. He loved them all. They were his real family. And he wouldn't let any of them get hurt.

The small boy tip-toed to the front door and went into the hall, careful to make sure not to slam the door.

As long as he was around and his mom wasn't, that meant that there was danger. Danger of his past coming back. He couldn't see his sisters get hurt. So he'd have to leave for a while. When his mother returned she'd be able to find him and then things would be back to normal. But until then…

He made his way downstairs, going slowly past the closed doors, and even more slowly past the few that remained open.

_I'll be fine,_ he told himself. Taia had taught them everything to do in an emergency and he'd made sure to remember in case something like this happened.

He made it to the ground floor and looked around at the wide open space, filled with nothing but a few pieces of furniture.

Benji didn't remember much about the foster home except that no one there had been nice to him. Li was the only other person there who seemed to know how he felt and she had been kind to him; in return he allowed her to cry onto his shoulder when she needed to. They helped each other. But it wasn't enough.

When Taia had come by one day and found the two huddled in a corner after suffering from the other children's antics, she had loved them in an instant. After a few days of caring, nurturing, and cookies, they loved her in return. She had been their protector. When she was there the bad things stayed away.

Now she was away. He wasn't worried for her safety; she could handle herself. And he wouldn't let the years of her loving and teaching him and his sisters go to waste. If the bad things wanted to come back for him, they'd get only him; no one else.

With one deep breath, he stepped outside. After leaving through the tunnel, he disappeared into the trees.

…**.**

Taia froze; she felt as if she'd been wacked over the head with a two by four.

"What's wrong?" Shifu immediately asked her, a strong tone of protectiveness in his voice.

She shook her head staring at the ground and breathing heavily.

"I just got the most terrible feeling."

He turned her to face him and looked in her eyes, checking them in case of sickness.

"If you don't feel well you need to tell me. We can always stop-

"No!"

She shrugged him off and backed away. She didn't want him to treat her like she was weak. She'd always hated that.

"We just _really, need_ to hurry," she said still breathing heavily, nearly panting. "I need to get home."

"Hey guys what's taking so long?"

"We'll be right there Po!" Shifu called to him.

He turned back to his companion. She was standing straight, her fingertips pointed to the sky and her elbows bent; standing meditation.

"You're sure you're all right?"

Taia nodded and opened her eyes.

"We've just got to hurry."

He nodded and waited for her to walk down the trail before following her.

They walked side by side looking for the other masters.

"The guys sure are being quiet," she commented.

"There's a reason for that."

It was Mantis, who currently had a knife pointed straight in his face. Tigress and Po stood back to back in their fighting stances, facing a circle of wolves.

"Oh I see," Taia said. "You kids should really let us know when you're going to have friends over."

"Yes, we would have had things cleaned up a bit more," Shifu added.

"Sorry about that," Tigress replied. "We thought we'd make it a surprise."

"Yeah just a friendly little get together," Po joined in.

"Well then why are we hesitating? By all means let's _welcome_ our guests."

**A/N: Cue the cliffhanger! **

**I don't own Kung Fu Panda; I just own the OCs. Oh and I own Po's iPod.**

**Po: _Say what?_**

**Me: Hehehehehe**

**Dumbledore: Dude! Epic little reference for the Harry Potter fans!**

**Me: I know!**

**Dumbledore: Up top!**

***We slap high fives***

**Dumbledore: Read and review! Now in the mean time I need to figure out where Fawkes went to… Here Fawkes! Here birdie, birdie, birdie!**


	16. Chapter 16

"WA-TAIIIII!"

It was _on_.

After giving one of his signature battle cries, Po leapt into the fray (or should I say, he started it). He was soon followed by the others.

There were twenty wolves give or take a few. That meant four wolves for every one master. No problem.

Po's foot connected with a wolf's jaw, sending the overgrown mutt flying backwards.

Two wolves jumped towards Tigress. She grabbed one by the muzzle, kicked the other in the ribs and then threw the first one flying in the same direction as the second.

Mantis leapt up and began using his signature move, using the wolves' nerves and pressure points to turn their bodies against them.

A few of the bandits moved towards the senior masters, assuming that the ages of the two would slow them down.

Big mistake.

The second she saw one of them pull a knife, Taia was on it. After whipping out her trusty blade, the female found herself in a four-way knife fight.

While he was watching all of this, Shifu heard a rushing sound behind him. He turned just in time to reach up and stop the fist that had been aiming for his head.

He then proceeded to lift the fist's owner off the ground. After spinning him in the air a few times, he flung the wolf's body just in time for the dog to collide with a pair of victims that Po and Mantis had tossed up.

The battle continued in this way for roughly ten minutes. Wolves were being juggled, punched, kicked, scratched, and cut (Taia said she didn't mean to, but the knife just slipped!).

Then it was over. The bandits lay in small piles on the ground, odd assortments of stolen goods strewn about the place. It was really quite beautiful.

"Well, that was certainly refreshing," Shifu commented.

"Yeah," Taia agreed as she surveyed the limp unconscious bodies of the bandits. "Nothing like a healthy amount of butt kicking to start the day out right!"

"What are we going to do with these guys?" Po asked as he gestured towards the KO-ed canines.

"I've got an idea!" Mantis cried.

If someone had been walking through that particular area of the forest that day, they would have passed several bamboo trees with wolves tied to them. They would have also seen a sign that read: ARREST US!

"Nice idea Mantis!" Po approved.

The bug shrugged and grinned. "It's been known to happen."

"Good, good, great! Now let's get a move on!"

Taia rushed ahead dragging Shifu by his sleeve.

"Still having a bad feeling?"

"How could you tell?"

"I guess I'm just smart that way."

"Are you smart enough to realize that that was heavily laid sarcasm?"

"Believe it or not, yes!"

"In that case, bravo for you!"

…**.**

"SON OF A-!"

The above was Deng's reaction to a missing bridge and huge gaping hole in the earth. No one could blame him.

With a sigh, the cobra looked over the rim. After a thorough inspection of any ledges and smaller cliffs, he gulped, and began to slide down the side of the canyon.

…

Hope sat up in bed, rubbed her eyes, and yawned.

She then flopped back down and smacked her tongue up and down in her mouth to try to get rid of the disgusting morning mouth taste.

Then she looked over and saw an empty bunk bed.

…

"Commander She Du?"

"Yesss? What isss it?"

"The troops are beginning to arrive. One of the leaders would like a word with you."

"Sssend them in, pleasse."

"Yes sir."

"She Du?"

"Ah! Ban Lai. I was hoping it wass you. How are thingss coming on the home front?"

"Everything's secure, from the leaders of the separate sectors, down to the last weapon."

"Exccellent. Most exccellent. In a day'ss time we should be underway. Do you agree?"

"Yes. Any word from your son about the warrior you mentioned?"

"None yet. But I have a feeling that I will sssoon have my fangs sssunken into that little basstard'ss neck!

"Well good luck with that. I personally don't see how you put up with the brat. You know how I handled my kid. And when he didn't shape up, _I_ shipped out.

"Yes, yes I know. You know, one would assume that because of your ssizess you'd be gentle."

"_**EXCUSE ME?"**_

"Well, forgive if I insssulted the sspeciess, but it'ss not as if most of the red pandass I've met are friendly! You're still drinking aren't you?"

"Shut up."

"Fine. Tell the guardss to sstart checking their armor out. I don't want _any_ misstakess when we head off."

"Will do."

…

"Ming! Ming!"

Ming's head shot up from where it had been resting on the table. Her eyes darted around blearily.

"Ming!"

"WHAT?" The black furred rabbit shouted at Li.

"Benji ran away!"

This got her attention.

"What, again?"

"Yes! I looked everywhere. You know he always does this when Mom is gone for too long."

The lady rubbed her eyes, trying to make herself wake up completely.

"Alright, alright," she said, in what she hoped came across as a gentle voice.

"Before we do anything, go check in the yard, the surrounding trees, and outside the cave entrance. He might've just wanted to be the first one to say hello when she got back. If you don't find him, then we'll both look further. Okay?"

Li nodded, turned around, and rushed out the door.

Ming sighed, stood, stretched her back, and groaned. Finally she heard and felt a slight pop.

"Ah, that's better."

"Ming?"

_Gee, that was fast,_ she thought when she heard Li calling. The rabbit crossed the room and exited through the swinging doors.

"What is it Li?"

Ming stopped. In the front room stood twenty rhinos, six crocs, eight wolves, and three deadly looking Chinese mountain cats.

One of the crocs was holding Li by her puffball tail.

"We've got visitors," the rabbit girl said meekly.

…**.**

Taia winced. The headache she had developed earlier was getting increasingly worse.

She rubbed her temple with one hand and held onto the cliff with the other.

They'd finally reached the mountains. With her claws to help her up the steep rocky sides, Tigress had easily gotten up front. Po, his kind being used to climbing bamboo trees, wasn't too far behind. Mantis, who wasn't exactly built for climbing, had hitched a ride on the Panda's head.

Shifu had come up with the idea that he and Taia could climb on the outside; him on the right and her on the left. That was if there were any weak spots or if someone started to slip, they would immediately be aware of it.

Gritting her teeth, Taia pressed onward; or upward, as it were.

"_What's wrong with me? Everything's just fine!"_

…**.**

Deng had to disagree. From his point of view, things were not at all fine.

He had finally made it down to the bottom and was slithering around the rocks, narrowly avoiding cuts on either side. That's when he had found something out.

The floor of the canyon was weak and cracked. Some of the cracks were large enough to look down into.

Deng looked into one of them. That's when he saw. The actual bottom of the large gaping hole, lay several miles beneath the weathered stone on which he was currently resting.

One wrong move and he'd fall into nothingness.

"Well f***!"

…

**A/N: Yeah it's short. So sue me.**

**And just so Dreamworks won't sue me: They own Kung Fu Panda. Not me. Just thought I'd mention that.**


	17. Chapter 17

"Hello," Ming said carefully, not wanting the strangers to feel threatened (although by the looks of them, threatened was probably the farthest thing from their minds).

"Yo," one of the rhinos replied.

"Alright, listen up," another rhino with battle scars running down his face called. The other people who had been in the sitting room listened intently, half of them scared out of their wits, a few being held at knife point.

"We've been given orders to take into custody, anyone and everyone in the surrounding area. And guess what? You guys happen to be a part of the surrounding area! So guess what that means?"

At first no one answered. Then Li spoke up from where the croc still had her held by the tail.

"It means that you're going to put me down and then go on about your business?"

The creepy strangers shared some looks; then tilted their heads back and let out a symphony of guffawing, which sounded quite terrible to the ears.

In the part of her head that wasn't listening to the horribly mixed sound of laughter, Ming was trying to figure out how the heck they had gotten here. No one new how to get into the clearing! Heck, most of the boarders weren't even allowed to know! The only people it could have been were her, Taia, Deng-

Then it hit her. Deng. Could he have...

"Where exactly are you getting your orders from anyway?" Ming asked, calmly, when the laughter had died down and the strangers had begun grabbing people from the surrounding crowd.

One of the mountain cats looked up from where he had been trying to wrestle some piglets into a bag.

"General She Du," he replied simply.

_General? Weird… Wait a minute, who cares? She Du?_

"How did he know we were here?"

"He has his ways, I'm sure," a wolf snarled. "Now do us a favor and round everyone else up. Anyone resists and-

The wolf pulled out a large battle axe.

"-well I think you get the picture."

She stood there for a moment, watching as they continued to grab people. She had two choices. Do what they say and everyone would be taken away and most likely executed, or put into slave work. Or try to fight and be killed in the process, leaving everyone else scared at the sight of how ruthless these guys were.

With a steady breath she nodded, and headed up the stairs.

_Taia if you're out there get home soon! There's a reason why I'm not a fighter- I'm bad at it!_

**…**

Taia breathed more easily as soon as they were on relatively flat ground. Po, it seemed, felt the same way.

"Oh boy," he breathed. "It doesn't matter how many times you do it. I still hate climbing."

"Wimp," Tigress hissed as she jogged past.

Po glared and jogged as well, Mantis hopping along next to him.

"Hey," Taia felt a bump against her side. She looked to see Shifu holding the scroll.

"Can you run and read?"

"Sure."

As they dashed forward, eager to make up for lost time, Taia unfurled the scroll and looked over it once more.

_Thirty languages…_

That was how many she had told Shifu she could read and write. Okay so maybe she'd stretched the truth. Maybe it was more like, oh maybe, six. And maybe, just maybe, most of them were different Asian writings. So what? So, she'd lied. Something she knew he hated about people. Oh well; they could clear that up later. What mattered now was that she _could_ read Russian.

Russian. Why _were_ there so many Russian people at her boarding house? It warranted confusion, she realized. Then she also realized that what really made it weird was that there was a whole nother country in between; the sometimes overlooked Mongolia. Then she went on to realize that her mind was running off on a tangent. _Another_ thing Shifu didn't like about people.

_Wait a minute, what do I care if he-_

She sighed inwardly. This was going nowhere fast. Just read the darn scroll.

She looked at it (WHY was it written in Russian anyway? Gah, no quit questioning, and just read!).

They were still in the mountains. That was the problem. The trail and symbols stopped as soon as they reached a spot. Maybe the Dragon Stone would be there? Sitting on a pedestal? Maybe there would be a cave or-

"Hey I look at this!"

-something.

Po was pointing at a blank rock wall.

"Why exactly are we supposed to be looking at that?" Mantis enquired

"Look how smooth it is! Kind of weird, huh?"

The wall was smooth as marble, except for-

"What are those markings at the top?"

Taia looked at the wall closely, hoping that she could possibly answer Tigress's question.

Russian. Again.

_Okay this is just plain weird!_

"Is that what I think it is?"

Taia gave a nod to Shifu's whispered question.

"What now?"

She gave him a shrug. He sighed. He'd hoped for more than that.

"I'm gonna touch it!"

"Wait Po!"

Slowly the panda reached forward until he felt cold stone beneath his paw. The others gasped as all of a sudden-!

Nothing. Absolutely nothing happened.

"Well what now?" Po asked, out of ideas.

"Is there any possible chance that it could just be a randomly smooth wall that we randomly ran into? And that it has nothing to do with the mission, and we're standing here wasting our time while the Empress wastes away in her bed?"

"Mantis, why are you such a pessimist?"

"I'm not. I'm the voice of reason. Go figure."

"It doesn't matter what he is; he's wrong."

Everyone raised an eyebrow at Taia.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Shifster, it's simple. The map stops giving directions right here, where we are now. There's a wall there with matching symbols. What do you think?"

"Alright then. Tell us what to do." He whispered the last part.

"Okay." She looked at the wall. Then she shrugged.

"Well Po you were pretty close. All you have to do is touch the wall; but you have to do it with your foot."

"Your foot?"

"Your foot."

"My foot."

"Anyone's foot, really."

"Why with a foot?"

"I guess no one would expect something like that. I mean who just touches a wall with their foot?"

"Besides that, what's the difference between a hand and a foot? As long as they apply pressure to the correct spot, shouldn't it have the same effect?"

"Look Tigress, I don't make the rules I just read them."

"Hey wait a minute," Po cried. He remembered something from what Taia had said earlier.

"She got to the read the map? Why did you let her read it?"

"That's irrelevant," Shifu replied. "Can we just get the stone and everyone can argue later?"

"Fine," Po replied. "But I'm onto you." He then made a V with two of his fingers and pointed from his eyes, to Shifu's eyes.

One death glare from his master later, and Po was standing in front of the wall.

"It's okay if I open it right? Nobody else wants to try?"

"No, we're good."

"Okay I- Hey!"

Po had looked behind himself to find that his companions were hiding behind a shrub watching.

"Go ahead and open it. Don't mind us."

Po glared at the bug; although he couldn't blame him or the others. Who knew what could happen once he touched the wall with his foot (which was still a weird rule) and whatever was supposed to happen, happened? For all they knew, he could be about to unleash all hell.

He breathed in steadily, lifted his leg (snickered inwardly about it) and his toes, followed slowly by his heel, brushed the smooth surface.

**…**

Deng breathed out, hoping that less air in his body would mean less weight.

Lowering his head so that his entire body was flat on the rocky shelf, he inched forward around the cracks.

Up and over, a few rocks, into a small dip, around an especially pointy stalagmite type fixture, he carefully made his way forward.

_Okay I can do this. I can do this. I can do this._

And he did. Almost.

A slight cracking noise met his ears. Then he felt it; the sensation of falling.

A shout erupted from deep inside as the young cobra began to tumble downwards.

"AUGH!"

Quickly as he could manage, he swung his fangs outwards and hooked them onto the wall. Then inched upwards; inchworm style!

At last he reached the top. Under normal conditions he would have enjoyed a nap right about now. But these weren't normal conditions at all.

Mustering up as much strength as he could, he continued forward.

_How am I ever going to do this? At this rate it will take weeks just to find her! And things can't be going well at home._

**….**

"Ah, excellent," She Du hissed as the rhino delivered his news.

"Remind me again why we need the prisoners."

She Du sighed.

"You're disssmissed," he said to the rhino. Then he turned to Ban Lai who asked the question.

"Becausse! The warriors can't carry everything! They're going to be bussy bringing an empire to its kneesss; we can't have them worrying about dropping any of my money."

"We _could_ leave the money here you know."

"WHAT! Never! It'ss mine!"

The red panda rolled his eyes at the snakes selfishness.

"Okay it's yours, I get it."

"I mean some people own things, but this stuff is MINE!"

"Like I said, I get it."

"MINE! Mine, mine, mine!"

"OKAY! I GET IT! What are you going to do, sing a music number about it?"

"Actually-"

"DON'T YOU DARE!"

"But I wasss sso prepared!"

Ban Lai delivered a scathing look to his legless friend.

Disappointed, She Du sighed. Oh well. In a little while he'd have a whole bunch of people who he could boss around. Who wouldn't be happy about that?

"Oh and by the way," Ban spoke again. "How did you find out about the clearing?"

She Du chuckled to himself. "A friend told me. He was quite an odd fellow; kept shouting something about cabbages or carrots or something. He really liked veggies."

**….**

Benji's ears perked up, and he walked from his makeshift campsite, towards the offending sounds.

"All right, let's go people, we haven't got all year!"

Peeking through a bush, the boy spotted them. A very long line of people. Most of them he recognized from the house.

_What are they-_

Then he saw his sister. Li was still being held by her tail above the ground, and in a position where she was unable to get away.

"Let me go!" She shouted once again at the croc. She was ignored.

Then Ming passed by, her paws in shackles, along with most of the other adults. The older kids had shackles as well. The younger ones were in cages.

A cage passed by, and Benji caught a glimpse of Hope. She was smashed up against the bars, having to share the iron prison with several larger kids.

Benji backed away. And ran back to his campsite, then quickly gathered his stuff.

_What am I **doing**? What did I **do**? What am I **going to do**?_

These questions lay heavily on his mind as he lifted his rucksack and crept silently after the procession of people.

**…..**

**A/N: Okay, listen up. I don't own Kung Fu Panda. **

**And another thing! This stuff is confusing. I know. And my writing isn't at its best lately. But right now I'm filling the holes until we get to the really good stuff! So bear with me. (And you know what do.)**


	18. Chapter 18

A slight rumbling could be heard then.

Po quickly backed away from the wall, turned around, and dove behind the shrub with the others.

The rumbling continued. Slowly the wall slid downwards into the Earth. Left in its place was a cave. A very scary cave.

Po's eyes were the size of serving platters.

"Wow. That is… COOL!"

"Oh! I'll bet there's some sort of blood sucking demon in there! Let's go!"

"Yay!"

"You guys are really morbid, you know that?"

Po and Taia ignored the feline and dashed to the entrance.

"Wait a minute," Shifu called after them. "There could be booby traps!"

As if on cue, an arrow shot past, narrowly missing Po's nose.

"Yikes," he squeaked, and covered his nose protectively.

Taia looked back at Shifu.

"Fine, we'll go slow. But if we see any undead creatures in there, I get to get kick their living dead butts!"

"First of all such creatures are nonexistent. Second, I believe it would be best to walk in single file."

Mantis was currently resting on Tigress's shoulder and decided to stay there. Po looked around the cave a bit more and changed his mind about the whole demon thing; he didn't want to see one after all! So he went behind Tigress. Taia began to strut forward, and was surprised when she spotted a short, braided ponytail in front of her.

"What are you doing? I'm going first!"

"And allow you to get distracted, fall down a hole, and break your neck? No sir! I'll lead."

Taia grumbled, but didn't get the chance to argue because Shifu was already on the move, trying to make up the time.

_Okay we're almost there. We just go in, get the stone, leave, RUN to the Imperial Palace, and then everything will be alright again!_

The master smiled to himself about how happy the Emperor would be. He could just imagine it now; their monarch holding his wife's hand, desperately trying to hold back tears. And then! They would burst into the room, and deliver the stone!

He chuckled to himself, as he moved past the damp stalagmite and ducked under low hanging stalactites. Sometimes his imagination could be as active as Po's! Or Taia's for that matter.

Taia. Oh yeah.

_I guess she'll be going home after all of this is over. Odds are she won't want to move the children, and it's not likely that she'd want to come back to the Jade Palace. Oh well. I can visit her! Every few months or so… Of course I have ceremonies and other such things to attend… So, every year or so? Maybe next decade? I could always attend her funeral. If she doesn't come to mine first. _

_I wonder what I'll do when I have to go home. Well, I'll be more peaceful for one thing! No more feud to ignore, remember, and then try to ignore again! Yeah… And I could visit… Maybe after Hope graduates college? Or the two of us will just hang out in the after life! Yeah! That'd be great! One second we're hanging out on a cloud, the next we could go check up on Oogway, swing by my parent's place, then meet Kara and Tak somewhere! _

Lost in thought, the two red pandas hadn't realized that they were now walking side by side, as usual. The difference was how close they were standing. Their hands were only a few mere centimeters apart.

Po, meanwhile, was about to pee himself. Not only was this cave incredibly dark, creepy, and kind of smelly, but it was wet. So instead of watching the water drip, drip, dripping down the rocky walls, he inched upwards and closer to Tigress.

"Okay, it's official. I can't see a thing."

"That makes two of us."

"Three."

"Does anybody think that maybe we should have brought a torch or something?"

"Yeah, because there are plenty of ready to be used torches inside of caves, which by the way probably haven't been entered in centuries. Get real!"

"Um, guys? I think I just found a torch."

"You were saying, Tigress?"

"Oh shut up Mantis!"

Po had never been in a cave like this one before and had decided to see what a cave wall felt like (curious fellow that he is). He'd found certain spots rather smooth, while others were fairly rough. Then, while Tigress had been ranting, his paw had run over something that felt just a little too metallic to belong inside of a cave. After running his paw upward, he'd found a conical wooden object, that was somewhat ashen at the top. Thus he had found a light source and proven Tigress wrong (which definitely doesn't happen every day) all in one sitting. Yay!

"Torch huh? Hand it over."

Po passed it to Taia, who tucked it under her arm and started patting the ground around her.

"Guys, help me find a rock. If we find one I can get some sparks going for us."

"Why would there be any loose rocks lying around?"

"Found one."

"Mantis!"

"What? I didn't even say anything."

"Good. Keep it that way."

Po passed the rock over and Taia pulled out her knife. She found that it was too difficult to hold all three at once and set the torch on the cave floor. She scraped the blade of her knife over the rock a few times.

A tiny spark flew. Another couple followed the leader.

_Come on, come on._

Then! Another spark shot off and landed on the torch. A few short moments later and there was a nice blaze going.

She held it high in the air and looked around. A long tunnel lay ahead of them. Without speaking she walked forward, the others following close behind. Finally they reached a dead end. Or what appeared to be a dead end, until you noticed that there was a metal holder, much like the one Po had come across, jutting out from the wall, and seemed to have no other purpose then to hold a torch.

Taia and Shifu made eye contact. She gave a look that asked 'Well?' He gestured towards the holder in a manner that more or less said 'be my guest' along with a slight 'I have no clue' shrug.

One short breath later, she had allowed the torch to rest in the metal holder. And for a moment nothing happened. Then the wall in front of them, with a familiar rumbling noise, turned ninety degrees. Taia pulled the torch back out of the holder and walked in. The others followed.

They entered what seemed to be nothing more than another section of cave. A sort of small room, with a dent-like shape at the back.

The five of them walked around the small space, not seeing anything.

"I don't get it. The stone should _be_ here!" Taia said this in a distressed tone. Had she been wrong? Had she not known how to read Russian as well as she had thought? Was everyone going to die in here because she had so badly wanted to prove to Shifu that she wasn't as weak and pathetic as he had told her she was?

Then the wall slid shut behind them.

…

"Move out!"

How well those words felt as they slid off his tongue. She Du grinned to himself. At last! So much planning. So many days that he spent sending messages back and forth to the people he felt would support. So many nights he toiled away planning out his strategy. Not to mention the extra days it had made to come up with the fake map. It would all pay off soon.

The ground quaked and rumbled beneath the army's feet. All of She Du's rhino guards as well as many assorted allies were now in perfect alignment, marching forth towards what would be their finest achievement.

The fellow province leaders had agreed to She Du's plan for two reasons: number one was that they felt their Emperor was weak of will. Never going into battle, and always more focused and measly peace treaties. They knew that She Du was the obvious choice for a replacement. The second reason was that if it all failed, they weren't in charge, and in the long run would probably be able to get off without a punishment.

Ming's arms were already aching as she began to march along behind. All of the prisoners that had been taken were now carrying the money that She Du had acquired over the years; _their_ money which he had unlawfully taken. The lot of it had been stuffed into sacks, and those sacks piled on top of each other on square pallets that had poles coming out of the ends for them, the prisoners, to carry it with.

_Stupid greedy jerk _(and a few other names that I do not want the children to hear)_! If those extra guards weren't watching us, we'd be able to escape. _

Taia had taught Ming most of the basic self-defense moves. But fighting off this many guards and other assorted villains? Out of the question.

The children had been kept in their cages. Part of She Du's plan was to train some of the young ones to be warriors that would work for him. Others would be made into servants. As for the rest… Who knew?

Li had finally been released from the Croc's grip and tossed into a cage with some kids she didn't know; these children were from town, a place that she almost never went.

After looking around herself at the other cages, she finally spotted Hope. Poor little thing, her sister thought. She was still being squashed up against the bars, due to the fact that far too many toddlers had been crammed in with her. Li noticed that Hope had managed to hang on to her blanket. Thank goodness! Whenever that blanket was very far from her reach without her own consent, there was a great possibility that anyone nearby could lose their hearing.

In her upset state, Li found the desire to blame someone. Her mother came to mind. After all it was Taia's job to protect them and make sure that She Du didn't become anything more than your average everyday evil jail warden.

Li shook her head. No, no… Her mother would never let something like this happen if she was around. Maybe she should blame Shifu and the others for taking her away? No. They obviously needed her for something important.

Benji. Yeah, she'd blame Benji. Li knew that Benji had nothing to do with it. But she was mad. And when a young girl is mad, focusing that anger on a little brother is a natural thing to do. Even if that little brother happens to still be missing.

Or at least he was missing as far as she knew. The truth was that he was following the entire rapidly moving procession. In the back of his head, he was trying to figure out how he was going to fix this. He was nine for crying out loud! So for now he just followed. Followed and hoped that someone or something would get everyone out of this madness.

…

Deng was still moving. He had passed by an old campfire that had been put out. Could it have been left by them? Or was it from some other travelers?

The young snake reached a more open area of the bamboo forest that he had been slithering through. That's when he saw something unusual… A bunch of wolf bandits, tied to the trees, and one of the wolves was wearing a sign that read "ARREST US!"

_Oh they were **definitely** behind this!_

"What's up dudes?"

The wolves, who were starting to get hungry, all turned to look at where the voice had come from. When they spotted the snake, they collectively began to struggle eagerly at their bindings.

"What's up? What's up is that we've been tied here for a really long time!" The speaking wolf was close to howling in desperation.

Deng nodded.

"Uh-huh. That seems like a major serious problem. Any thing I can do to help you brothers?"

"Yeah! You can untie us," the same wolf replied. "Then we can go after those stupid warriors!"

Another wolf spoke up. "I don't know. Those guys really kicked our tails. Did you see that bug? He was turning us into puppets or something!"

"What about the panda?" A third asked. "Or that tiger! Those were some deadly moves! I thought I was gonna get torn in half!"

"That's nothing! Did you see those old people? I've never seen a lady that age move so fast! Or a guy that age punch so hard!"

"No I'm telling you guys, the mantis was the most dangerous!"

"No, it was the tiger."

"No, the panda!"

"The old lady!"

The-!"

"**SHUT UP!**"

The first wolf that had spoken finally lost his temper with the whole, which warrior was the most dangerous, argument. All he cared about right then was tracking down those warriors and getting the chance to kick their butts!

"Look, it doesn't matter! Just get us out of here!"

Deng tilted his head to the side a bit. "Or what?"

"Or what? Or we'll rip you to shreds!"

The snake tilted his head even farther. "But you're tied up. How're you gonna hurt me when you're all tied up?"

The wolf hadn't thought of that. He struggled in a frustrated fashion. Then he stopped and grinned at the snake that lay coiled up in front of him.

"How about a deal? You cut us loose, you get a share of whatever happens after we catch those losers. Sound good?"

Deng appeared to be thinking it over. "Okay. First tell me which way they went."

"That way!" One of the dumber wolves was all too happy to get to answer the question. He gestured in the direction with his ear.

"Thanks dude!" And with that, Deng saluted them with his tail, and slithered off down the way.

"HEY! Where are you going?"

"This way. And FYI, you offered me a terrible deal. I doubt anybody would want to share a butt kicking."

…**.**

_This is just fantastic! Moments away from saving the day and getting to go home, and we have to get sealed in. Where's Lady Luck when you need her?_

Shifu's annoyance with the overall situation was intensified when yet another drop of water dripped down in between his ears.

He moved to the right a bit to avoid the drippage. In doing so he bumped into Taia. In the torchlight the two locked eyes, growled, and moved away from each other. They'd resorted to getting mad at one another over the whole ordeal.

Po sighed. He had no doubt that they were going to die in here. They'd tried punching through the entrance wall, but their efforts proved fruitless. And there was no telling how far down they were, so getting at the roof was pointless.

"Whoever built this place deserves some serious props. They used a language that almost nobody around here knows how to speak, much less read (I mean except for the crazies at Taia's house). They came up with ridiculous and unexpected rules to get in, and when you least expect it, it turns out that they had installed kung fu proof barriers that would bury us alive. Well played Dragon Stone hiders. Well played."

Po clapped half heartedly after finishing this brief speech. Then he leaned back against the wall, prepared to get used to the insanity that would come. First they would probably grieve the fact that they were trapped. Then they would turn on one another. Then the eating each other would come. Maybe Mantis would be eaten first; after all he was bite-sized. Or would he, himself, be first to go, as the biggest and the best to provide them with food for quite awhile?

He stopped thinking about his very flesh being ripped from the bone when he felt something poking into his back. The panda stood straight and turned to look at what could be poking. All he saw was ordinary cave rocks. Or… Were they?

Tigress had noticed something as well. Either she was crazy or this room was too bright. She'd been in caves before, with torches no less, but it had never been this easy to see. But there couldn't be light coming from some other place could there?

But then again… This wasn't exactly an ordinary cave

"Taia! Put the torch out," she said eagerly.

"What? Why?"

"Yeah, seriously, it's bad enough that we're trapped in here! I don't want it to be dark too!'

"Mantis quit whining! I know it sounds strange but I just have this weird feeling…That maybe if we put out the fire, we'll still be able to see."

Taia thought a second. She knew about feelings like that. She was still having one. The weird instinct that seemed to buried in your gut. That something was supposed to happen. Or in her case, the feeling that something was horribly wrong.

So, before anyone else could argue the point, Taia doused the torch in a small puddle of ice cold cave water.

For a moment they were concealed in darkness. And then…

It was enchanting. Mystifying. Like nothing they had ever seen or dared to dream of. Crystals. Pure uncut, unpolished crystal, bejeweled the walls and ceiling.

They were what Po had backed into. And they were what was causing Tigress's confusion and feeling. The dazzling rocks gave off their own light, in scores of colors. The soft glow lit up the rocky room brilliantly.

"Whoa," Po whispered, tilting his head back. "Awesome." Mantis and Tigress weren't far off. They too were completely awestruck.

_Wow._ Taia reached forward to stroke one of them but thought better of it. She retracted her hand and let both her arms hang at their sides as she marveled at the fantastic sight. She backed up a bit to get a better look. Shifu had been moving the same way and they were now backed up against each other. They seemed to be running into each other a lot lately.

"It's beautiful," she whispered to him.

"Yes," he said. "It's real beauty. Pure _untouched_ beauty."

Taia reached behind herself and grasped his hand. He didn't shake her off; instead he squeezed in return enjoying her hand's warmth.

For a while they stood like that. Gazing at this spectacle. Never harmed or changed in any way since the day they were first formed, thousands of years ago. Mother Nature at her finest.

"Look." Po broke the silence. In his wonderment he had spied what they had come there for.

In the dent shaped corner of the room, twice the circumference of the panda's own eyes, it lay on a bed of crystals that had sprouted outward from the wall forming a shape that resembled a ledge. It rested on its side, the dragon facing them. The stone itself was black, the dragon gold to match the golden rim.

There was the stone that they had worked so hard to find. The one that had sent them on this crazy mission in the first place. Now they had it.

Taia, as of the moment, was the closest. Still in a slight daze from admiring the crystals, she reached forward to grab the stone. Without considering what could happen.

"AUGH!" She cried out in shock and pain. In a heartbeat she withdrew her hand from the stone and cradled it in the other one.

"What is it?" Shifu asked this urgently. He moved forward and turned her to face him. Upon inspecting it he saw that her palm was a bright red.

"It _burnt_ me! Why did it do that? I sure as heck didn't do anything to _it_!"

"Never mind! Go stick your hand in that puddle; now!"

Normally she would have complained about the fact that he was ordering her around _again_, but right now she was a little more focused on getting pain relief for her aching hand. So doing as he'd directed, she kicked the torch aside and placed her palm in the cool water.

While Taia was attending to her injury, the rest of them gathered around the stone.

"It must be another defense mechanism; whoever touches the stone is burnt, except for someone who knows the secret behind it."

"Gee, whoever it was that got to hide the stone really didn't want anybody else to get a hold of it, did they?"

"Well, let's see. This stone happens to contain the power to heal any and all weaknesses or injuries no matter how severe. It, in essence, provides immortality, something that has been sought after for years. So in answer to your question: no. No they didn't want anyone to else to have it."

Po glared at (who else) Tigress. "You've been really mean on this trip!"

"I'm just stating the facts. Get over it."

"Make me!"

"Fine I will!"

"Stop it you two," Shifu commanded before Tigress could knock Po's lights out. "How many times do I have to stress that we shouldn't be arguing?"

"Well, I don't know, maybe-

"Rhetorical question Po."

"Darn it! I never catch those."

Mantis had been checking out the stone during all of this. And he'd gotten an idea.

"Hey guys? You know how they managed to make the rules all weird like a foot instead of a hand or paw or something? I think it's pretty obvious what they did here. The rule is probably that only guys are allowed handle the Dragon Stone."

Tigress scowled. "So you're saying: No girls allowed? How incredibly chauvinistic! The fact that you even thought of that is pretty rude!"

"Yeah!" Taia called from her spot by the puddle. "That's idiotic! If anything it would probably be women instead of men. After all, isn't the stereotype that women are healers and men are fighters? Hmm?"

"Hey, you don't have to go all crazy on _me_. I'm not the one who made the rules."

"Alright then," Tigress said coolly. "Why don't you try it?" She grinned and gestured her paws toward the stone in an inviting manner.

"Okay fine," he said and hopped off of Po's shoulder and onto the ledge. "But you two ladies are gonna feel pretty small when I-** AAAAHHHH!**"

In a flash the bug had hopped down and sped over to join Taia at the puddle. He sighed as he sank his claws into the cool water.

Mantis looked up when he heard a snicker. He saw that Taia was wearing a smirk. Mantis sighed in defeat and said, "Go on. Say it."

Taia's face became dead serious. "Say what? I wasn't going to say a thing."

"You weren't? No lecture?"

"Nope. But the key word is _wasn't_. Now I'd like to say that you're a colossal baby and you scream like a girl."

"I do not!"

"Yes you do! The only person here who has a girlier scream than you is Po!"

"Hey!" Po called over. "I resent that!"

"This is ridiculous!" Shifu cried. "First we're stuck in a cave. Then we're stuck in this room. Now we find the stone and we can't even pick it up! And while I'm worrying about it, the lot of you are making ridiculously immature jokes! Nice. Real nice."

"Oh yeah?" Taia lifted her hand out of the puddle. After giving her palm a quick glance (and noticing that she was going to have one extremely annoying blister) she strolled back over. "I did a bit of thinking myself. I think Po is the one who has to get the stone."

Po's eyes widened a great deal. "What? You want me to get burnt by that magic rock?"

"First of all magic isn't real. Second, I think Taia has a point; after all, _Dragon_ Stone, _Dragon_ Warrior? It makes perfect sense in context."

"Easy for you to say, Tigress!" Po cried. "You can't even feel anything in your hands, the stone wouldn't hurt you at all. Me?" Po looked at his hands. "These babies just aren't ready for that kind of treatment."

"Po, relax. All we're asking of you is to see if you can pick up the stone. Please just try it."

"Sorry, Shifu but I don't think it's gonna happen. No way do I want blisters."

Shifu sighed and pinched the bridge of his noise. Then he thought of something.

Glancing at Taia he asked, "Perhaps you could persuade him?"

She nodded and turned to the panda. She gave him a sympathetic look.

"Po, are you afraid?"

"Um, well, yeah a little. It's just that they're kind of putting pressure on me and I-

"_**WELL GET OVER IT! THIS ISN'T ABOUT YOU OR YOU'RE POOR LITTLE PAW! THIS IS ABOUT SAVING SOMEONE'S LIFE! NOW GRAB THAT STONE BEFORE I KNOCK YOUR HEAD THROUGH THE WALL!"**_

Po let out a squeaky whimper and quickly reached over to the Dragon Stone and grasped it in his paw; it didn't burn him. He hugged it to his chest and whimpered again.

Tigress's eyes were wide and Mantis's jaw had dropped.

Shifu voiced what they were thinking. "And you thought that _I _was mean."

Now that Po was holding the stone, and the ledge had been released of it's burden, they once again heard the familiar rumbling. The five of them looked to where the wall was doing another ninety degree turn.

"Freedom!" Mantis cried and zipped out of there faster then you could say 'I really want to get away from these crazy people'.

Po still seemed to be a bit shaky from Taia's 'persuasion' so Tigress led him out, saying to him that it was all going to be okay.

Shifu chuckled as he too walked into the main tunnel that would lead them out of this mental institution. After walking a few yards, though, he realized something was missing. Taia wasn't following them.

So he turned back around to see what was the hold up. Then he saw. She was still there, slowly turning in circles, and gazing at the beauty that she saw. He didn't like to interrupt her dreamy state, but they truly needed to leave.

He started to walk over when he spied something. A crystal that had been broken off and some point or another and was now resting on the floor. How he hadn't spotted it earlier, he had no idea. It was clear, about three-quarters to a foot long, and bore a resemblance to a diamond. He bent over and picked it up.

"Taia?"

She looked over to him when she heard her name spoken. When she spied what he was holding, she broke into a grin.

"You think that I could maybe have that? It would definitely work great as the kid's souvenir."

"Oh yes? You really think I'm going to just let you have it?"

She smirked and crossed her arms. "Sure I do. After all you _are_ a gentleman aren't you?"

He snapped his fingers. "Darn! I was hoping you'd forgotten that little piece of information."

"Yeah, well I didn't. Now hand it over!"

Taia reached for the crystal in his hand. Right when she was about to grab it, he jerked his hand away.

She raised an eyebrow. "What gives?"

Shifu gave her a toothy grin. "I may be a gentleman, but you're still my best friend. And no one ever gives in to their best friends that easily."

She smirked again. "Oh yeah?"

The woman lunged for the prized stone a second time and he once again moved it from her reach. Then she surprised him by planting her foot in the middle of his chest and jumping to snatch it out of his hand. He countered by grabbing her by the waist, flipping her over and seizing the stone back. This went on for roughly two minutes. She'd get it, he'd take it back, and then she'd take it again. This turned into a lighthearted tug of war with each of them holding one end and the crystal between them. The two pulled lightly back and forth, not really putting much effort into trying to take it. Then Shifu pulled a little bit harder then before…

Caught slightly off guard, Taia stumbled forward and bumped into him. Now they were barely inches apart, chest to chest and nose to nose.

Her head was currently angled so that she was looking at his shoulder.

_Don't look up, don't look up, don't look up._

She looked up.

_Oh wow._

It had been a while since she'd gotten this close of a look at him. They were standing even closer then she'd assumed. Actually if she moved her head to the left just a little, there muzzles would be brushing against each other. And if either of them moved forward a little, there lips would, well, you can figure it out.

She saw him swallow. During this trip she'd figured out that he wasn't exactly used to 'intimate' physical contact. And if she did was she was considering doing he would probably die of shock and embarrassment.

_What are you thinking? He's uncomfortable enough. Take a step back! He needs his space! The two of you shouldn't be this close._

But she couldn't help it. There they were; alone, close to each other, and in the presence of one of nature's finest wonders. In a few days time they would be credited with having saved the life of a royal. They cared about each other. And she just didn't want to move.

Taia swallowed and continued to stare into his perfect blue eyes. Then she leaned forward.

He felt her lips start to brush against his. _What is she..? She shouldn't be..? I don't… NO!_

Shifu turned his head away and tightened his jaw. Taia's eyes instantly darted to the floor.

"I.., uh…"

"Yes," he said. He put one hand behind his back made a fist with the other and cleared his throat. "Whatever."

He then pulled his hand out from behind his back to show that he was the one who had ended up winning the crystal from their little game. In a few short moments she had forgotten all about it.

"Here." He held it out, far away from himself. Taia gingerly accepted it, being careful that their hands didn't touch when she took it.

"I'm quite sure the children will enjoy it," he commented and folded both hands behind his back. His face was still tightened. He was practically scowling at her.

She looked down, past the crystal and to her feet, unable to look him in the eye. "Yeah they'll love it alright."

"As I had assumed," he replied, and cleared his throat again. "We'd best be leaving."

He turned to walk out. Before entering the tunnel he turned back and said, "Don't forget to use that torch to shut the door. I don't believe that anyone else truly needs to see this place. It should be kept away from the world."

Still looking at her feet, she nodded and ran her finger up and down the precious rock in her hand.

"Yeah I-I'll make sure to, you know, close it up," she stuttered.

_Oh great. Now I sound like Kahn._

"Good." Then Shifu turned and walked out. Away from her.

As soon as he was gone she started blushing. Her cheeks started out a light pink that grew darker, and glowed through her pale fur, until it was a violent red, making her look like burning red tomato.

_I'm an idiot._

A little crestfallen, she picked up the torch and walked over to place it in the holder. Once the door was shut she pulled it out, walked along the dark tunnel, placed it in the first holder, and moved out of the cave.

_Just get over it. Whatever you were feeling or thinking, swallow it. _

Outside in the light again, she that Shifu had already moved on. Po kicked the edge of the cave, and the entrance wall slid shut.

"What took you guys so long? We were about to leave without you," said Mantis.

"And what exactly is wrong with Shifu?" Tigress inquired. "I was unable to determine the reason as to why he seemed a bit upset."

Taia sighed and took in a deep breath. "It's nothing. Nothing happened. Come on, let's go."

She walked off.

"That was weird," Mantis stated. Tigress furrowed her brows in thought. Po didn't do anything. He was still getting over his ordeal.

"Scary Taia," he squeaked.

…

"How far are we?" She Du asked of Ban Lai.

"I estimate about half way."

"Oh goodie! We're ahead of ssschedule!"

"We'd be even further ahead of our schedule if you hadn't insisted on packing so much!"

She Du sighed. "Thiss again? For the lasst time, I needed to be sure that we were prepared in case of emergenciesss.

"Oh sure you were! We both know that you were staring in the mirror, checking to make sure that _you_ looked perfect!"

"What'ss your point?"

"My point is that you are never ready to go when I am!"

"You sssay that now but when ever I'm the one who'ss ready, you alwayss dawdle!"

"I have never done that!"

"Have too!"

"Have not!"

"Have too!"

"Have not!"

"That'ss it! When we get there, I'm going to kill the Emperor by mysself! You're not even allowed to watch!"

"Well than I'll just break in when you're not looking!"

"I'm a ssnake! I don't need to look; I can feel the vibrationss of your big clunking feet!"

"Aw, shut up!"

"_You _shut up!"

"No, you shut up!"

"Will the both of you shut up? We're trying to march and look terrifying down here!"

The two bad guys shared a look. Then they leaned over to look down at the offending shouter.

"SHUT UP!" The two yelled.

The guy shut up. She Du turned back to Ban Lai.

"Alright, I'll let you watch. In fact if you really feel like it, I'll even let you sslit his wrissts before I deliver the death sstrike!"

"Aww, you really mean that?"

"You know I do."

"I just can't stay mad at you. Isn't evil fun?"

"Yess, yess it iss. Care to join me in a bout of evil laughter?"

"Of course!"

Evil laughter rang out over the land. Bone chilling, heart stopping, horribly evil laughter.

…

**I don't own Kung Fu Panda. **

…


	19. Chapter 19

Hope woke up.

How she had managed to fall asleep in the first place was a total mystery, given the highly awkward position she was in. One leg was squashed against her chest, while the other was hanging through the bars of the cage, her toes occasionally grazing the ground whenever the cage was lowered enough.

This of course wasn't the only awkward position she was in. The fact that she was stuck in a cage was bad enough. And what would happen when she was released was something she didn't want to think about.

She popped her thumb into her mouth, something she hadn't done in two years. Any other time her mother would pull it right back out. For obvious reasons, Hope didn't expect that to happen right now. She pressed her blanket against her ear for added comfort.

Letting her mind wander, she thought about the nightmare that she'd had the other day, of herself sinking into the icy depths. It had been strange… Nothing she'd ever dreamed of before. Oh well, it was probably just a nightmare. What did it matter now?

Then she considered the way Benji had been lately. Normally he was hyper, curious, and teased his sisters at every turn. But lately he was jumpy, nervous, and in general rather fearful. Which was weird considering that he was usually the brave one.

Running away was a sort of bad habit of his. Whenever something felt wrong to him, he'd make up a stupid excuse in his head and then disappear.

Again, oh well. Hope wasn't the least bit worried. She knew that Benji would soon be back. Just like how she knew she wouldn't be stuck in this cage forever. And how her mother would soon be back to fix everything. That was how things worked. There was a problem, and then the grown ups fixed it, simple as that.

She leaned her head out through the cage bars and looked up. A clear night sky dotted with a few million stars met her eyes. She liked stars. They were like lanterns that someone had hung in the sky, so that people could see in the dark.

The tiny girl relaxed as much as possible. Then she slowly drifted back into slumber.

…

_That's it… I've gotta rest…_

Deng collapsed, panting, tongue out of his mouth. How long had it been since his last drink of water? All he knew was that it was too long ago for his body to be in a healthy state.

He was in the middle of a dry field that stretched far beyond the horizon.

The cobra sucked in air over and over, none of his breaths seeming to fill his lungs.

He hadn't spotted any signs of Taia or the others in days. With no exact idea he had been forced to guess which direction to head off in next. It didn't take a genius to guess that this might have been the wrong way to go.

Lifting his head up again, he inched forward with as much strength as he could find within himself.

…

Leaves crunched under their feet. The sun was high in the sky. In general it was a very nice day.

Except for the deafening silence of course; we certainly couldn't forget about that.

He refused to speak to her, to look at her, to acknowledge that she was even on the same planet as him, let alone the same expedition.

She just had to screw it up didn't she? Just when things had been going so well...

Now here they were walking along, side by side, pushing their way through a vast sea of indifference, anger, sadness, regret, and a large amount of awkwardness.

Taia's only comfort was that before long she'd be able to go home. Where she didn't have to tiptoe around everyone's emotions just because _some_ people were too sensitive! Where they weren't afraid to admit that they had more emotions than that of a rock!

Shifu sensed her stiffen and countered by stiffening even more. What right did she have? None, that's what! She had absolutely no right to run around like a crazy teenage girl, making people care about her just so they could be hurt! Look what she'd reduced Kahn into. He'd rather die that be anything like that sniveling ingrate. If he could shake her from his memory once, he could certainly do it again.

In the meantime, Po and Mantis had been debating on a very important topic: which was better, dumplings or wantons? Po was thoroughly on the side of dumplings, but the insect refused to agree with him. Listening to them making such a huge deal over food made Tigress roll her eyes until she felt like she was going to be sea-sick. Because they were so busy in being thoroughly disgusted with one another, they hadn't noticed there was a problem between their master and their new friend. That is until-

"I SAID THAT WE NEED TO GO RIGHT!"

-that.

"For the last time, we are going left. If you protest again then I will-

"You'll what? Ignore me and give me the silent treatment? Yell at me? Or will you do your trademark and stare at me disapprovingly?"

"Taia-

"OHHH! There's the stare! There it is! The almighty stink eye! Allow me to cower in fear!"

"Taia-

"Here he goes again! Getting a little angry over here folks, and we do not want Master Shifu to be angry! Nope, nope, nope, because he might _lecture us_! The horror!"

"_Taia-_

"What? Am I in trouble now? Huh, huh? Are you gonna tweat me wike I'm a wittle baby? Huh! Are you-

"**LET ME SPEAK, WOMAN!"**

"AWWW, shut it! Why do you have be so sensitive, huh Shifu?"

She thought for a second.

"You know, you have a really stupid name! Where the heck did you get a name like that?"

"My name is stupid? That's ridiculous! At least people can read my name! When they read your name they call you Tie-uh! Even when you say it right it's still rather odd; TAY-UH! It sounds like something a drunk person would name a child!"

"Yeah, well at least I could pronounce my name when I was a kid! You my good sir had a lisp and couldn't say yours! You called yourself Sthifu!"

"I did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Oh yes you did!"

"I. Did. Not!"

"Liar, liar, robe on fire!"

"When will you ever act your age?"

"When I care about gaining your approval; in other words: NEVER!"

While the two continued to bicker, Po leaned over to his friends.

"Is their any chance that that's really just friendly banter?"

Mantis shrugged. "It's about fifty-fifty."

"We'd better pray it is. Because if they really get angry…"

He didn't have to finish that sentence. The way Shifu was gripping his staff and how Taia had her hand over the pocket that contained her knife were enough to give them the idea.

…

Deng collapsed again. It was over. He couldn't move.

The young snake's eyes fluttered. Even if he wasn't going to make it, he had to admit that he hadn't done so badly. He gone over gorges, escaped bandits, and lived the rough life in a way that he never had before. Even if it was plain, he now realized how luxurious his room was. Especially with the picture of his mother. His mother…

He missed her. But he was confident that he would see her soon.

The cobra looked at the sun that continued to bake the hard earth beneath his body. Being a snake he liked heat. But everyone has limits.

Closing his eyes once more, his father echoed in his mind.

"_Really son" "I have faith in you" "Don't come back" "You're pathetic" "I'm tired of"_

They overlapped into an incomprehensible jumble. A jumble with mood swings, shouting, stares of glowing red eyes…

Why had he agreed to go after Taia and take her back to his father? Why had he become a double agent in the first place? Why did his dad… Why did… Why… Why….

His blue orbs slid shut.

…

**I don't own Kung Fu Panda. **

**Which is better: dumplings or wantons?**

…


	20. Chapter 20

_Thud. Thud. Thud._

Ming gasped. Her arms were so tired. She felt as if they were about break free from the sockets. At this point she was sure if that could be any more painful than the torture of having to carry the damned money.

_Well look on the bright side…After all of this exercise I might finally be able to beat Taia at arm wrestling. _

She also had to admit that it could have been worse. She was used to doing hard work, unlike a fair amount of the others. A few people had collapse after just an hour or so. That was only part of what made this horrible. For a while they had simply marched across the country side. Then they started running into towns. Whenever they had to march through a village, the guards and allies would clear the way. Literally. They knocked down any and all buildings that were in the way. They'd even set a few on fire.

A few amateur fighters had showed up to try to stop them, but this of course proved to be a failed effort. Their meager skills proved to be nothing compared to the brute force of She Du's army.

Now they were in a large city. Citizens were being knocked out of the way. At the front of the procession, the Emperor's own guards were beginning to appear and a small squabble had been started.

_Please let them win. Please let them win. Please let-_

The procession continued forward. The first round of Imperial guards had been beaten. How many more would come and try to stop them? Ming didn't know. But something told her that She Du was going to make his way to Imperial palace. One way or another, he'd get exactly what he wanted.

…

"So you don't care about my opinion is what you're saying?"

"Yes, that's what I'm saying!"

For the past half hour, Taia and Shifu had argued, argued, argued some more, and for a change of pace, they argued.

What they hadn't notice however was that the intensity of their jabs and sneers had greatly increased in offensiveness.

Po groaned. He'd tried everything to ignore them, to no avail.

"Man, am I getting tired of this. Wanna go find some water?"

"Yes, please!"

Mantis hopped off followed by the panda. Tigress, instead of following just stood there, watching.

The two red pandas had stopped and were now shouting at each other.

"What, you think you could have done this without me?" Taia cried.

"Not only that, we would have gotten back more quickly! All you ever do is laugh and joke and fool around like the moron that you are!"

"Moron! Fine thing coming from someone who can't even admit they have a problem!"

"You want to hear me talk about my problem? You want me to? Here's my problem: Y-O-U! YOU!"

"Well maybe I-

"Oh no you don't," he snapped. "_You are not going to interrupt me_. You are going to _listen_!"

"WHY? So I can hear you call me second rate?"

"As far as I'm concerned you are-

…**..**

"Leaving?"

He asked without any attempted subtlety, as he was clearly distressed by the news he'd just received.

"What do you mean you're, you're _really_ leaving?"

Before now he'd assumed it was a joke or perhaps one of the many plans that she started and then forgot when she managed to recognize the absurdity of it.

The girl continued to toss things into her well worn out suitcase. She looked up from what she was doing for a brief moment to reply, "It's like I told you before. Kara wants to get reacquainted.

She smiled at him. "No way am I going to give up a chance to see my twin again."

She proceeded to continue packing as he continued to give her a mixed frown. Whether it was sadness or nervousness or simple shock that caused him to wear it, he wasn't sure.

He watched as she took down a few of the pictures that hung on the walls, leaving others behind.

He shook his head, unable to see this any longer. He turned and left the room, going down the hallway.

_Leaving? Why is she leaving the Palace? I thought she loved it here. _

"But no…" he said to himself. "She wants to see her sister instead."

The young man struggled to wrap his head around the idea. It was perfectly reasonable after all! She wanted to find out more about her family! Yes, that was it; to have a family was what she wanted! But, then, what did that make him? What did that make their master? What did that make-?

"Dah!"

Without realizing it, he had wandered past another room with an open door. Inside, on the floor played a young snow leopard, who was just beginning to gain syllables. As of the moment his vocabulary mainly consisted of 'dah' and 'mah' and other such 'words'.

At the sight of him, the cub waved his arms around excitedly from the place where he sat on the floor.

Through his confusion, he gave a small smile, and walked over to where he was sitting.

"How are you today?"

"Dah."

"Really? What have you been doing?"

"Dah-ah, mana, wacka la."

"No! You couldn't have been doing that!" He replied to the incomprehensible babble as if the cub had actually responded something understandable. It was a little game that seemed to amuse the young one.

"Muki gah, lah no wanna sa sa sa."

"You simply must be joking with me! Why I can't even imagine such a thing!"

"Baki, no, waf kala, neo mani wa."

"Well, I must say! You are rather adventurous aren't you?"

He smiled and the cub began to giggle for no apparent reason, the way children often did, and he couldn't help but to join in with a light chuckle.

"Aw, there are my boys!"

Without warning, she had entered. He looked back at her. She wore a carefree smile as usual, as if moving was normal for her.

"Hey there buddy," she addressed the cub, whose smile widened at the sight of her. "How's it going?"

"He was just telling me about his day," he told her quickly. "It sounded rather exciting! Why don't you ask him about it?"

"Aw, you know I'd love to hear all about it little guy, but I've got to go soon. I don't have time for a story."

The cub tilted his head to side a bit.

"Oh, didn't I tell you? I'm going an adventure!"

The cub's eyes widened in fascination at this new word, 'adventure'.

"You see, I'm going to see my sister who lives _far away_, and she and I are going to be a family again!"

There was that word, family. He'd been right in guessing. While she continued to tell the cub a brief yet detailed description of what else she planned to do when she got to see her twin, he quietly slipped out.

_I hadn't thought of that; him possibly missing her. _

Would the cub remember her? The way she played with him? The way she told him wild stories about far off lands filled with monsters and warriors? The way that she would sing to him at night?

He made the long walk up to the Hall of Heroes, and gazed into the reflecting pool.

_Why is she leaving so urgently? Does she want to get away from me?_

No, he forced himself to remember. She wasn't like that. She wasn't. Was she?

The light that shown into the hall began to ebb away as the sun sank below the horizon. He sat on the floor breathing in rhythm, trying to calm himself.

_This is all completely fine. Sad, but fine. What did I expect that she'd hang around forever? No; after all she's always talked about wanting to go to new places._

He'd just assumed that he'd be going with her.

"Hey you!"

He turned to see her standing there, suitcase in hand, smiling at him.

"I finished saying goodbye to Tai Lung; gave him a big hug and everything. And I said goodbye to Master Oogway, which, believe me, wasn't easy at first. But, he always manages to help lighten the load and reminded me why I was doing this in the first place."

She paused, her smile faltering just a bit.

"Now I've just got to say goodbye to you."

She walked up and wrapped her arms around him.

"I'm really gonna miss you. You know that right?"

"I wasn't sure if you would. But thank you for telling me. It's nice to hear you say it."

Her smile broadened once again and she said, "No problem. You'll miss me won't you? Nobody to bug you all the time."

He shrugged. "I suppose so. It will be difficult to adjust to this situation, but I can manage if you can."

"You see? We're going to be just fine! Besides I'll come back to visit."

He gave her a tiny grin. What had he been worrying about? Of course she would visit! And then, maybe after a while, she'd decide to stay here for good!

"And when I do visit I could help out with busting the bad guys like we usually do. You know, sort of a part time job."

Yes she- Wait what?

"What? A part time job?"

He couldn't believe his ears. His face hardened into a ferocious scowl.

"Is that what you think this is? _A job_? Something that you can apply for one day and quit the next?"

"Shifu, I just meant-

"No! I know what you meant! It's just silly old Kung Fu, right? And of course because it's _you_ that we're talking about, of course it doesn't mean much!"

Her smile had vanished and her face had formed a shocked and angry frown.

"You can't say that! You know that I love Kung Fu!"

"You love it? Aw, isn't that just so nice? You happen to enjoy something which I, personally, live and breathe with every waking moment of my existence! Isn't that great?"

"Shifu, stop it!"

His sweet smile radiated sarcasm and in a high pitched voice he continued to mock her.

"Hi, I'm Taia! I'm really loud and like to annoy people, but that just means that I'm feisty, and that's a good thing so I can do whatever I want, whenever I want, even if it means I annoy people!"

"Ha ha, you're hilarious! Now would you quit?"

"Somebody is making jokes about me, and that makes me _angry_! Never mind the fact that I do this all the time to tease people! When it's the other way around, it's just not funny!"

"SHIFU QUIT!"

"I make fun of people to hide that deep down I'm insecure, and do you know why I'm insecure?"

He'd tossed aside the sweet smile by now and was yelling at her, throwing his words at her like painful spears.

"Because you're second best! You've always been second best! I have always been better than you, and you know it! You're running away because you know you'll never be as good!"

"That's not true!"

"_Yes it is! You know it is! I am better than you!_ And do you know why?"

He swung his fist, surprising her and barely giving her enough time to block it.

"_You're weak!"_

He aimed a kick at her ribs which she twisted away at the last second. Her actions were slower than normal due to sheer disbelief.

"_You're pathetic!"_

With each insult he continued to attack, trying to strike her and cause her pain.

"_You're selfish!"_

"_You're immature!"_

"_You're a brat!"_

"_You couldn't pay attention if your life depended on it! _And guess what? Half the time, _it does!"_

She felt blow after blow as the words pierced her in her weakest spots, reducing her to a bruised, close to sobbing mess. He stopped and looked at her, what he had done. He scowled, blocking any regret or guilt he would have normally felt. He turned and began to leave, so that he wouldn't have to watch her leave.

She stood there watching him walk away. Her best friend. Her secret keeper. The only thing that kept her from running wild half the time. One of only two people who she trusted wholly, had turned on her, something that was supposed to be impossible for two as close as them. She couldn't trust him now. And she wouldn't let him win.

A battle cry met his ears and he turned in time to see her flying at him. A wave of force washed over him as she struck him in the center, sending him flying backwards to crash into a pillar. This type of move was one of his weaknesses, in that having his entire spine hit something with great force often left him a bit stunned.

She'd known that; that he would need a moment to recollect himself. And she took advantage of it.

She flew at him again and flung him across the room. This time he was prepared and instead of hitting the wall face first, he hit it with his feet and sent himself backwards towards her.

He narrowly dodged a hit to the jaw, but in doing so she landed a blow to side. It was followed up by a sharp kick to his chest.

He grabbed her right arm with his left and spun her backwards where he punched her in the back of her head. She fell to the floor. He took several heavy breaths as he stood over her, before he realized that she wasn't moving. He leaned over to check-

Allowing her to grab his hand and body slam him to the floor.

So it continued. Neither of them had ever been in such a fierce battle before; their daily sparring wasn't even this difficult. The weather seemed to sense the intensity and decided to try and match it as an unearthly storm began to come down in torrents, lightning cracking the sky and thunder shaking the ground.

Imbedded rage and newly sprung hatred had bloomed into internal monsters. The two were blinded to all thought and caring as they lashed out at one another, feeding off only energy and ire.

It was a wonder no one ran in to see if someone was being killed, the way their cries of war and pain echoed throughout the hall.

Then, as things were reaching their peak, she grabbed her knife and flung it at him. He leapt and grabbed it in mid-air. He came down again on top of her, knocking the wind from her and bruising her ribs.

Lightning struck once more lighting the room. He pressed his knee into her the center of her chest and raised the knife above his head the blade in perfect alignment with her heart.

And then-

He paused, breathing hard, and looked at her. Her eyes no longer contained anger, or fear, or even sadness. They contained a question: Are you going to kill me?

Was he?

He didn't have the chance to find out. In his hesitation she flung him off her, grabbing her knife in the process.

He came down at the edge of the reflecting pool. He laid there trying to regain coherent thought. When at last he felt stable he rolled to his other side.

She was gone. Vanished, out the door, took her things and left. She hadn't even shut the doors behind her; instead they remained open allowing him to watch as the rain poured hard onto the mountain and washed down to the valley below.

He rolled over again and lay on his back, gazing at the painted ceiling.

He breathed, in and out. In and out.

He told himself that he would be okay.

_In and out._

He would get over this.

_In and out_.

He'd do it on his own.

_In and out._

Without her.

_In and out…_

He began to tremble slightly. The trembling gave way to shaking. His eyes stung and his breath was short. A sob wracked his body.

He squeezed his own arms in an attempt to calm down, but another dry choking sob came followed by another and another.

_What have I done?_

His lips trembled as he lay there helpless.

_No! I can't do this! I can't lay here like this!_

Gathering his strength he rolled once again, this time onto his stomach. He dragged himself the short distance to the reflecting pool. He took himself in. Black mustache, short beard, blue eyes; or at least they were blue. Now they were red and bloodshot.

He continued to gaze. Then he could take it no longer.

He brought his fist down on the image of himself, distorting it into ripples. He turned away.

His legs were crossed, his elbows resting on his knees, his head resting in his hands. A tiny tear fell into his hand, rolled across the palm, and spilt down his arm.

_I'm a monster. Look what I did. I destroyed everything. What now? Oh good gods, what now?_

Silence surrounded him, pressing down and torturing him. Nothing felt real. It was like his lungs had been stolen. He couldn't live and breathe without his lungs and… And…

Then he felt something. Something besides another wave of pain; something solid touching his shoulder. He lifted his head from his hands to look.

There stood the small cub, Tai Lung, his head tilted to the side in confusion.

Normally he would have asked how the cub had made it up to the palace on his own. Now it didn't really warrant his attention. He simply stared at the snow leopard who stood almost as tall he did.

The cubs paw remained on his shoulder, an act that had simply been meant to gain the red panda's attention. But it had done so much more.

He felt his body relax beneath the youthful touch, unable to feel any rage or pain in front of his impressionable young cub. His breathing went back to a steady rate as the two continued to stare at each other.

Then he stood and hugged the young feline. This was met with an excited squeak and a hug back.

He loosened his arms and took a step back.

"Yum-yum!" The cub said and patted his belly, a clue that he was hungry.

The red panda looked outside, where it was light once again. The bell would be sounding soon. He needed to eat and feed Tai Lung as well.

"Come along," he said softly and led the cub out of the palace.

As they left through the doors, an old tortoise watched from the shadows. He'd brought the cub up to the palace.

He stepped forward and surveyed the hall. It was going to need some cleaning. There were broken objects and scratches everywhere.

The old master walked to the doors and looked out over the valley. A part of him wanted to go after her. After all she was the closest thing to a daughter that he'd ever had. But he reminded himself:

_Everything happens for a reason. And I know that there **is** a reason for this._

What the reason was wasn't clear yet. But it would come. With time and patience, it would come.

…**..**

-still nothing but the selfish, careless, heartless, immature little brat that ran away years ago!"

It had taken a while to block her from his memory, but he'd succeeded. Over time he quit wondering where she was when they were seated for a meal or when they were about to begin training. He'd stopped wondering if she had been hurt by what he'd said. She faded into the background of his mind.

Master Oogway never spoke a word about the incident. Every so often Shifu had caught his master staring at him with the blankest of expressions. Then the green skinned master of Kung Fu would either turn to look at something else or start up a conversation about some random subject.

The way he'd been that night was horrendous, and he'd squashed it away. But even the weakest of fires can be rekindled. And now it, the old monster, was beginning to wake up.

Taia stood there as she heard the familiar words being flung at her. She'd heard them even before he'd used them. But whenever another person insulted her she'd insult them back or just ignore them. Why should she give them the time of day? They didn't mean anything to her anyway! But Shifu… He'd meant a lot.

When she'd had to stay behind at the orphanage while Kara got to go to a nice home and have a family, jealousy had consumed her. She'd acted like an all around brat, throwing things at people and laughing hysterically when they hit them. Then Oogway came. He changed her entire life by doing the simple thing of catching the things she threw and not getting mad when she shouted at him. And when he took her to the Jade Palace and she met Shifu, she knew that that was her family.

No matter how much they argued and teased each other, if someone else decided to try it, they would defend the other in a heartbeat.

And then he'd done it. He'd picked her apart and exposed her. After everything that happened that night, she thought she would go crazy. She was like a ship without an anchor; no anchor, and the ship is free to roam around and crash into things.

It had been harder for her to put herself back together. Kara helped her immensely, and eventually she managed.

But now, here they were. Staring each other down like the enemies they'd become.

But one thing was different this time; she wasn't going to let him win. She was going to come out on top. No matter what.

"Say that again," she whispered.

"What?" He asked a little surprised, as he'd been expecting her to either yell or attack him.

"Say. That. Again."

She walked toward him slowly until he was a foot away from her. Just as slowly as she'd spoken, he repeated his words.

"You. Are. A selfish, careless, heartless, immature, brat!" He spat the last word.

She was silent for a moment. Then she said, "You're right."

"What?" That was the only word he could think of.

"You're right. You're always right. I am all of those things."

Were his ears telling him the truth? Was she really saying that?

Then she spoke again.

"I suppose all brats have to sacrifice time and energy in order to find food for herself and her friends in family. I suppose I am selfish because I save people from being unjustly executed which makes me wanted by the law. I suppose I am careless because I do the best I can to make sure that everyone in my home is safe before I even think about going anywhere. I suppose I am heartless because I fell in love with and adopted three children."

She stared him down, her gaze burning through him.

"Let me tell you something Shifu. I may not be the best at Kung Fu, or anything else for that matter. But I've sacrificed a lot over the years. I've had to work hard in order to protect everyone around me. I've risked my own safety and gained a huge bounty on my head in order to save the lives of fellow parents and people.

"You may have had the opportunity to stay at the palace, and to have had everything you ever needed handed to you. And you may have had the chance to stay amongst the well known and the wealthy. But I've had an even greater opportunity. For a long time I've worked for everything I have. I've gotten the chance to see the forgotten, the sick, the hurt, and the homeless. And I've helped them. I've helped every person that I've met along the way the best I can. And if that still doesn't change me from being a selfish, careless, heartless brat, then I really don't care."

He watched as she turned and began to walk away.

"Oh," she said over her shoulder. "By the way. I suppose I am immature. Because I can walk away with my dignity still intact."

And she left. She didn't even look back.

…**.**

The Emperor paced back and forth in front of his throne.

What was keeping them for so long? Surely they should have made it back by now?

He took his eyes away from the floor when the doors burst open and a messenger ran in.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty! There's an assault going on outside!"

The monarch's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

As if in answer, the doors to the vast throne room opened once more. This time it was slow and creeping.

"Greetingss your Majesty. "

"So good to see you again!"

He turned his attention to the door where he saw a familiar looking red panda and an even more familiar looking cobra.

"She Du? Ban Lai? What on earth is going on? What is this I'm being told of an assault?"

Ban Lai replied smoothly, "Don't worry about it your grace. It's nothing for you to worry your royal head about!"

He turned to face the two straight on, glaring at them. He was aware of how, questionable, their behavior could be. But… Assault upon the Imperial Palace? Surely even they wouldn't be…

"Yess, relax your highnesss. There'sss nothing at all that warrantsss your concern. However, I must ssay that I rather admire that lovely chair you have. Would you mind if I… Tried it out?"

…**.**

He stood there, face and mind completely blank. He couldn't believe what had happened.

He'd done it again. Once more he had obliterated the strong bond that the two had shared. He had allowed his inner monster to see the light again. And once again it had destroyed him. Only this time she had raised herself above him, rightly so, and he had fallen back to Earth.

"Um.."

He looked up. Tigress stood there staring at him. As if things weren't complicated enough.

He looked at his feet again. He'd never been more low, ashamed, and embarrassed in his life. Or at least in quite a while.

"Sorry."

One tiny word. But, like a soft paw on the shoulder, it helped.

"Nevermind. Please go get Po and Mantis. We need to get going.

…

**I don't own Kung Fu Panda.**

**Last time, dumplings won the vote. Poor little wantons.**

…


	21. Chapter 21

"Yes master."

Tigress turned and walked away. She'd seen him angry countless times before but what she'd just witnessed had been outrageous.

She shook her head. It wasn't her concern what her master chose to do. If he felt it was necessary to berate his former friend, then she couldn't argue the point with him. She wouldn't say anything.

She continued to walk until she found a small pool. Po was sipping water into his mouth through a makeshift straw made of bamboo while Mantis was hanging out on a lily pad.

"Master Shifu says we need to get going," she called.

"Okay, coming," Mantis called in reply. The little green dude hopped off his comfortable perch and back onto dry land. Po lazily tossed his straw aside. Tigress turned around and began leading the way back to the main path while the other two followed.

"Did they stop fighting?" Po asked her.

Tigress paused and then continued walking.

"Yes," she told him. It wasn't a lie, technically. And she certainly didn't want to be the one to tell her fanboy friend what had happened to his favorite 'couple'. In little time they reached Master Shifu who, instead of addressing them, continued down the path. He kept ahead so that he could attempt to avoid conversation but-

"Shifu?"

-things don't always work out the way we want them to.

"What is it Po?"

"Where'd Taia go? Is she looking for food, or getting rid of some more bandits or something?"

"No."

"Oh... Well, um, where is she then?"

He sighed and stopped. He turned to look the panda in the eyes and felt bad for the innocent minded warrior; he most certainly wasn't going to take this well.

"She went home."

Po's nonexistent eyebrows crinkled in confusion.

"What do you mean? She just left?"

"Yes. Now, quit worrying about such trivial facts. We're behind schedule as it is."

Again, Shifu didn't bother to talk and instead turned around and marched forward at a fast pace.

Po stood there in a catatonic state. Mantis poked him and he still didn't move. Tigress stared at him, waiting.

Then it happened.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE WENT HOME?" Po shouted and ran after his master. "She couldn't have just got up and left! You yelled at her didn't you! You yelled and told her to leave! How could you do that? She cared about you a lot and you just-

"Shut. Up."

The Grandmaster turned around as he said this, staring Po down, making the poor panda feel very vulnerable.

"It was her choice to leave. It's not my fault. She chose and I had to respect that choice. Now I'll thank you to kindly leave the matter _alone_ for once. It's about time you just stayed out of things that don't concern you!"

"What? But I- I mean I, just I-

"How stupid do you think I am? It was you who did that whole 'wedding' thing. It was you who made sure that Taia and I kept ending up alone. It was you who made the two of us meet again in the first place! Everything that's gone wrong here is your fault!"

Po's jaw tightened and he looked at the ground. He knew that he was responsible for most of things Shifu was saying. Did that mean that Taia's absence was his fault?

"Stop it."

Po and Shifu looked to where Tigress stood, glaring at her master.

"Stop blaming Po for this. He might have been meddling during the trip, but he just did that because he wanted to make the two of you happy. You were the one who yelled at her and drove her off. You were the one who was acting like a child would! Master Shifu, forgive me, but you need to hear this. You may have inner peace, but that doesn't fix everything that's wrong. It can't change the fact that you still have problems; only you can change that. And you haven't. Not yet at least."

Tigress looked away from him, so that her words could hopefully sink into his thick head.

"Come on guys. We have a stone to deliver."

For the second time that day, Shifu watched as a woman walked away from him, leaving him feeling stupid, humiliated, and immature. Po and Mantis followed, avoiding eye contact with him. They still didn't know the whole story, but the two had a feeling that they should be mad at him.

Due to the trees being thick up ahead, it wasn't very long before his students were out of sight. He opened his mouth wide and breathed in deeply to calm himself. Then he folded his hands behind his back, hung his head and pinned back his ears. The Walk of Shame. It'd been a while since he'd walked this way; after he'd found inner peace he'd stood taller, straighter, with his head held high, facing the world. But now he didn't feel the way he had that day. Instead of feeling like he was free, he felt like a world's worth of weight was on him. And who did he have to blame? Why himself of course! And this time no one could even argue the point. It was his hidden insecurities which he had suppressed and then released that had come back to bite him in the ass.

He let out a stiff sigh. He had a feeling he was going to be given the cold shoulder at the palace for a while. That was fine. What did he care? He didn't care about anything.

…

She walked through the forest using her knife to slice the leaves and branches out of her way.

_Stupid Shifu! Stupid Dragon Stone! Stupid everything! Wait, why am I saying this in my head?_

"Stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, _stupid, _**stupid, **_**stupid,**_ STU! PID!"

With every cry of stupid she slashed more violently at the leaves. Why hadn't she just yelled at him and attacked him and hurt him? It would've been more satisfying that was for sure!

"But no! I just had to act like an adult! Since when do I do that?"

Ugh! It was all his fault! He always made her act weird! Now her delayed anger was beginning to bubble and froth. It felt as if she would explode!

"ARGH!" She shouted. She started slashing and kicking at everything in sight, half of her trying to hold her down while the other half was just so MAD.

Then the forest ended. It was like getting over a head cold. Tight congestion, followed by air that feels like heaven. She looked up and before her lay an endless field of grass. The moon lit it up beautifully. There were no trees in sight. It was perfect. She put one knee on the ground and reached her other leg behind her. She pressed her fingertips into the hard earth. She closed her eyes.

_Breathe. Breathe. Breathe…_

Then she took off. It was like someone had set off a firework the way she zipped across the land at a speed that rivaled even Mantis.

She cleared her mind until it was nothing but a blank slate, focused on only running. Reaching a speed like this no longer caused her legs to burn. Instead it allowed her to experience the feeling of the wind whipping across her face while she kicked up dust behind her. Like she was almost flying.

She closed her eyes. And she smiled…

Then she tripped.

This, children, is why we do not run with our eyes closed.

She spat out the grit that gotten in her mouth when she'd fallen face first. Then she stood and turned to look at what had tripped her.

A long black thing lay on the ground. It looked like a dead snake.

"Eww…" Taia whispered. Most gross things didn't bother her but even she had limits. Tripping over a dead body reached those limits.

Well, she should probably bury him. It was the least she could do. That and try to figure out who he was. Not like it would be easy seeing as how snakes didn't exactly carry much identification.

Nonetheless, she leaned over and lifted his head carefully. She slid her hand under his jaw so that the head was cradled in her palm. The face looked exhausted but peaceful. Then she realized…

"Oh my… Deng?"

It was him. Her trusted spy and companion. He had always been sort of like an annoying little cousin to her. And now…

She closed her mouth and swallowed, closing her yes. She shook her head slowly. It couldn't be… Maybe it wasn't.

She opened her eyes and looked again. She slid one hand under and ran it along his underside, down his belly. This was Deng's most sensitive spot, something the kids had informed her after they'd given him a fair amount of tickle torture for stealing their pudding.

A tiny shiver ran through the ebony body. It wasn't too late. There was still a chance. If she only had enough time…

She carefully lifted his body. She looked around her and saw nothing but grass. No matter… Just as gently as she'd lifted him, she wrapped the long body around her own; she needed her arms to be free so that she could run more quickly. When she was positive that her patient was secure, she looked up. Where was it? Ah, there it was, the North Star...

_Okay think… That's north and that's south, then east and west… The cave was there, the gorge there…_

With a finger she quickly drew an invisible map in the air.

_The town is that way, my thinking spot's there… The house. That direction. Now._

She faced it. And took off. Once again gliding over the land, her arms pumping at her sides. But now instead of being fueled by anger she was fueled with a sense of urgency. Her face had gone stony, her eyes fixed on her destination. Using her survival skills and memory, she had mentally pinpointed where exactly she was along with where the house, the gorge, and the cave were from where she was standing. With that knowledge she'd been able to figure out where the closest water source was.

_And people say I'm dumb._

She willed her legs to go faster. She was going at a speed that she had never reached before now. And now her legs were beginning to scream and cry out for her to stop. But she couldn't let him die. She couldn't lose another person. She couldn't-

There it was. She skidded to a stop and collapsed to her knees at the edge of the pond. She carefully unwrapped the young snake from her body and laid him on the ground. She unhinged his mouth and scooped the water inside. She did it over and over again and splashed water across his body.

_Come on buddy, come on buddy, come on buddy!_

"Come on…" she whispered to him gently. "It's okay. It's all okay. You just need to open your eyes… Come on Deng. Just open your eyes… Open your eyes. Let me see that warrior in you. I know it's there. It's in all of us. Just show it…"

Taia ran her hand up and down his back, massaging the sore muscles.

"Come on…"

Her words registered in his mind, a tiny echo in a dull cavern. As she continued to speak to him gently, he words echoed louder and louder.

"Wake up… Wake up… Deng, come on!"

"Mmm," he mumbled.

Taia's breath caught in her chest and she froze.

The cobra's eyes slowly opened and slid into focus. He saw a pair of knees kneeling in front of him. His eyes traveled up until they met a pair of green ones.

"Tay? S'that you?"

She smiled. "It's me little guy," she soothed. "It's all okay now."

"Mm, not little."

"Whatever. Now let's just get you home okay?"

She carefully lifted him again, this time she didn't bother to run and instead started at an easy pace.

Deng's head rested on her shoulder, his eyelids still drooping. Then they snapped open.

"I just remembered," he said as loudly as he could manage. "My dad!"

Taia went from loving to business mode in an instant.

"What about him?"

"He's trying to take over China!"

"Damn! I hate it when this happens!"

She gets into a crouching position while Deng is still wrapped around her.

"Where is he?"

"He should still be at ho-OOOME!"

Before he could even finish his sentence the red panda lady took off _again_. Deng screamed as the wind slung his head back, leaving half of him tied to Taia and the other half flailing around behind her. If this wasn't such a dire situation, it would be somewhat funny.

"AUGH! AUGH! AUGH!"

Okay, it would be hilarious, but that's not important right now.

Taia dodged in and out of the trees, zipped down paths, pounded across bridges, and reached the gorge. She looked to the other side and took a split second to breathe.

_How are you gonna do this?_

"Please don't do what I think you're about to do," Deng whined.

Taia looked over the edge and inhaled deeply. Then she jumped.

It was like diving into a pool; straight down, fingers pointed, legs straight. With the changed point of view, it looked as if she was flying, her stomach a few feet from the ground. Then her legs curled to her chest and stretched downwards, allowing her to run down the wall. Then she jumped and straightened herself out running across the floor of the gorge. The ground began to crack and crumble beneath her and she just ran harder. The cracks caught up and, like the last time she was at the gorge, she started to fall. Shifu wasn't there to save her this time.

But she could save herself. And she did. She pushed her weight into the falling rock she was standing on, and launched herself up. Her hands grabbed the wall of the gorge and she dug her toes into the crumbling wall.

_Come on Taia._

It was like a much larger prison wall. And just as easily, she scaled it, this time while carrying a body on her back. She reached the top and didn't even stop to breathe.

_Come on Taia._

She ran through the forest past the fruit tree and through Khan's land. Then she reached the village and slowed. Half the buildings were nothing but piles of rubble. There were overturned carts, shattered clay pots, and stray frying pans.

_He must have left already. But- That means- Oh no._

She took off again.

"What are you doing, the prison's that way," Deng shouted.

"And my kids are this way!"

Down the path, slap the spot on the rock wall, through the tunnel up the yard to- a pile of ashes and debris.

Deng slowly slithered off of her and to the ground. She stood next to him, the two of them in total silence.

It was gone. Demolished. Destroyed. Her house, her _sister's_ house,the one that had sheltered everyone for all the years it had stood, had been burnt to the ground by She Du's army.

"Those," she started, her lips trembling. Her face became stony. "Bastards."

Deng just looked at it, shaking his head. He looked up at his friend. "I am _so_ sorry! I should've been able to get you in time so that this wouldn't happen!"

She walked forward and waded through the ashes. She stepped over some of Ming's old frying pans, meaning she was in the kitchen. She walked over to where the swinging doors were supposed to be. The sitting room, where she found stray pieces of furniture. The washing room, where there were left over clothes, mostly burnt.

The red panda kicked at the ruins again. She turned and looked straight at Deng.

"That's it then. I'm going to kill your father."

Deng nodded. "I've been waiting a long time for you to say that."

…

His eyes slid open. Things were hazy and gradually came into focus. There was that damned snake again.

"She Du," he said flatly.

"Emperor. Or should I say, _former_ Emperor?"

"As low as you've sunk in the past… I never would have believed that you could do this."

"You think this is bad? Let me explain something to you. I'm the reason you haven't been able to contact the other province leaders I'm the reason your wife is dying. I'm the one who planted that map. I'm the one who has made sure that any and all threats to myself were eradicated. And I am the one who is going kill you and take the throne."

"You're nothing more than a slimy, sniveling, little monster!"

"Deal with it."

…**..**

The cages were being dumped and the prisoners thrown into cells. Ming watched as everyone was either violently hurled into a cell or chained to one of the walls. Then she felt herself being lifted.

"HEY! Put me down!"

"Gladly," the rogue answered. He flung the rabbit lady into a cell. Her head hit the wall and she sank to the floor with her eyes half opened.

"Ha! Stupid peasants," he muttered.

Li watched the scene play out, horrified.

Finally the cages had been emptied. The rogues and guards slammed the door on their way out. Li looked at all of the miserable faces that surrounded her. It made her feel sick. Sick and sad and, and… Decrepit! Yeah that was the right word…

She sat down, leaned against the cell bars, and attempted to get comfortable. She found a stick and made a scratch on the floor, for day one. Tomorrow she'd add another, and the next day, another. That would help her keep track of the days and allow her to have one loose string tied to her sanity.

What? She could be dramatic sometimes…

…

Meanwhile, outside the palace walls, a certain someone was looking for a way to gain entrance. Lucky for him there was a back entrance that led to a courtyard, which was currently devoid of guards. This made it perfectly easy for him to walk in and enter the palace through kitchen. Thanks to his size he was able to slip under a table and out of any of the maids' sights. After a quick check to see if there was anyone facing the door, he scampered out from his hiding spot and out the door.

_Okay, now where should I go to look for the dungeon?_

"Hey, you looking for the dungeon?"

He looked up and for a moment he was sure that he had been spotted. He looked around and spotted a couple of felines of an unidentifiable species, who were currently engaging in casual conversation. The one that had asked the question was now providing directions.

"Thanks," the other cat said. "I thought I might go poke some fun at the prisoners, you know what I mean?"

"Completely! It's funny because they're locked up, and we're not!"

"Exactly!"

They laughed for a moment and then separated. Now he just needed to follow the genuine-humor-depraved furry to the dungeon; piece of cookie.

He ducked and hid behind pedestals and oversized vases to avoid being spotted as he tried to keep up. He hadn't gotten very far into the palace and already he had spotted at least three dozen rogue guards and strangers. They were breaking things, rearranging furniture, and harassing servants.

_Jerks!_

The furry led him down a long corridor, until he reached a small door. The feline slipped in and shut it. He scuffled over and opened the door for himself, trying to avoid any possible squeaking. He tiptoed down a spiraled stone staircase. When he reached the floor, he was met by a rank smelling dungeon filled to the brim with people.

His guide was currently poking a duck, who was unable to defend himself because he was hanging from handcuffs on the wall.

"Ha, ha, ha," the guy laughed, in a purposefully stupid fashion. "You're chained to a wall! How'd that happen? Ha, ha."

_So he's using the old, 'I'm stupid and even I wouldn't do that' thing huh? Not very common, but still highly annoying. An excellent tactic; unfortunately it must be stopped! But what will the hero do?_

He pondered this while the feline continued to use different styles of annoying and humiliating people. I'm afraid I can't tell you any of it. Some of you might use some of these techniques to your own personal advantages, monsters that you are.

He crept forward out of the shadows and found some stray rope on the floor. Silently he tiptoed forward. Some of the prisoners spotted him right away and at first were torn as to whether they should say something or just wait and watch. They decided on the latter.

_That's right, just keep harassing people. Make things easy for me, that's it._

As luck would have it, the guy stayed turned around. This, unfortunately for him, resulted in him being tackled. Before he could even make the slightest of efforts to defend himself, his hands and feet were tied together.

"HEY! WHAT THE HECK?"

"Sorry mister, but you chose the wrong family to mess with!"

Li sat up straight, recognizing the voice of the rogue's attacker.

"Benji," she cried. "Is that _you_?"

"The one and only big sis!"

The young red panda strolled casually over to where his older sibling was being held captive. Li gave him a huge smile.

"Did you see how I took him down," he exclaimed.

"Dude, that was awesome! How'd you do it?"

"I just remembered some of Mom's moves! And I snuck in all quiet like… Right past all those jerks that are trying to destroy the place! Pretty neat, huh?"

"I'll admit it: you did pretty well for a twerp like yourself. But before we give you a commemorative plaque, we'd appreciate it if you could bust us out."

"Sure thing," he told her. He pulled out his pocket and slid it into the key hole moving it around.

Li raised an eyebrow. "What do you think you're doing? You can't pick a lock that way!"

"Well do you have any other tools to use?" Benji asked rudely.

"Well, maybe a _key_ could possibly work," she snapped, making him roll his eyes because, as usual, she was right.

He looked around to see if the keys were hanging on the wall. However, unlike in most dungeons, they weren't hanging in a place where a person could just barely reach it, unless they had improvised tools. Benji turned to look at his prisoner who had been rolling around and swearing for a while now. He walked over to him and kicked him to get him to hold still.

"Alright now; we might be able to come to an agreement, but first you're gonna have to offer up some information." He said all of this, quoting what his mom told him happened in interrogations (at least sometimes).

"Sure, whatever _brat,"_ the captive spat back.

"Not to bother anybody," the duck who was being poked earlier interjected. "But that brat took you down pretty easily."

"He has a point," another guy mentioned.

"You fell like a sack of potatoes," one lady called.

A few more people felt it necessary to call out their personal opinions until it was getting pretty loud down there.

"Hey," Li called. "SHUT UP! Do you want somebody else to come down here and find out what's going on? Because I really don't think that you do!"

Everybody quiets down and lets Benji go on with his interrogation.

"Well, are you going to give me some answers or not? I need some keys, and I need 'em now!"

The furry glared up at him. Then he gave a sick smile.

"Alright I'll tell you. There's only one key to all of the cells in this place. And you're not going to get it."

"What makes you say that?"

The feline snickered cruelly. "Because the guy who currently has it in his possession is none other than Ban Lai. And believe me when I tell you this squirt: He doesn't like kids. He doesn't care how innocent they are. And he's killed grown men without a second thought, so what makes you think he'll treat you any better?"

Benji licked his dry lips and gritted his teeth.

"Because I don't need him to be nice to me. I'm smarter than him! Just you watch!"

He snickered again. "Sure thing pipsqueak. I'll be sure to pick out a special spot for your grave. By the pond maybe? Or perhaps we'll just stick you in the royal garden so those filthy worms can eat your body!"

Benji spat at the guy and used a spare piece of cloth to gag him. He turned to walk away but hear a little voice call his name.

"Benji!"

He turned to look who it was and saw Hope's little face poking out of a cell. He walked over to her.

"I knew you'd come back! You always do! Are you gonna save us?"

"I plan on it little sister. Now if you'll excuse me-

"Wait!"

"What?"

"You have to hug me goodbye first!"

He groaned. "What? Guys don't hug, especially not heroes!"

"I'll scream."

He quickly hugged her and headed to the staircase. The young nine year old turned to look at them all for another moment before he ascended the stone steps to the hopefully-not-squeaky door, where he exited.

In the hall again, he looked around, trying to figure out where one of the big bad guys would be hiding out. Probably not this close to the dungeons…

"BAN LAI!"

On second thought…

Benji quickly ducked into the shadows again as a figure walked past him. He identified him as a red panda, but because he was at an angle he couldn't get a clear look at his face. What he did get a look at though, was a thick iron key hanging from the sash on his waist. The stranger, quite possibly the Ban Lai he was looking for, continued down the hall until he reached a thick iron door. He yanked it open and stepped inside. Benji scuttled over quietly and got as close to the door as possible. He angled his ears so he could listen in.

"What's your problem, I was busy with something," a gravelly voice complained.

"Oh quit your bellyaching," another voice hissed. "You said you wanted to see this happen, so I was calling you in to watch!"

"Fine! I'm here! Go ahead and kill him!"

_Kill him? Kill who?_

Benji carefully turned and slid his head until one eye was able to see what was going on in the room. As of the moment there was a large lizard tied to a chair and the red panda was arguing with a snake.

"Well I can't do it now," the snake snapped at his companion. "You've thrown off my mood!"

"Would you shut up about your stupid mood? Killing doesn't have to be so dramatic and planned out like this, okay, its murder! It's easy! I could do it in my sleep, and knowing me I probably have!"

The red panda continued to speak, but now in a slimy, demented fashion.

"As you should know already," he said and paused to pull out a knife. He held the blade of the dagger close to the lizard's throat. "Life _is _such a delicate state… It's there one moment, and the next, poof!"

He motioned as if to slit the lizard's throat, causing the reptile to flinch.

"It's gone. Lost forever in the vast sea of existence… So She Du… Are you going to kill him and take your place as Emperor of China? Or are you going to stand there and wait? After the waiting that you've been doing all your life, can you honestly say that you can take anymore?"

The snake, who Benji now recognized as his mom's enemy, She Du, stared at the Emperor. He looked him up and down, doing what was thought to be looking for a weak spot. And then-

"Excuse me but 'stand there'? Talk about rude!"

Ban Lai groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Why must you always be so sensitive?"

"Why must you always be so _in_sensitive and forget the fact that I am without appendages? Honestly, a person starts to get tired of it after a while!"

Ban Lai shook his head. "Would you just freaking kill this guy already? If you don't, then I will!"

"Just try that you miserable coward!"

The red panda raised his dagger and lunged for the Emperor, only to be blocked and sent shooting backwards by She Du. Ban Lai crashed into the wall, upsetting a few shelves that's contents came spilling down on him. Soon he was surrounded by broken jars and dust. As he stood up to dust himself off, Benji just barely made out the sound of a small _chink_, like the sound a key makes when hitting a stone floor. Sure enough Benji looked and saw that the key had fallen from Ban Lai's sash.

_Sweet! Now just don't kill that guy! That's the last thing I need in my nightmares!_

"You know what? I'm tired of this crap!"

Ban Lai stormed out of the room followed by a teasing, unsympathetic snake.

_Now's my chance!_

The young boy crept in through the open door.

The Emperor's eyes immediately widened at the sight of a young red panda entering the room. He remained silent for fear that this could be a dream instead of a real rescue.

"Oh, uh, hi, uh, Emperor Sir," Benji stammered and bowed clumsily.

"Well it's official," the Komodo dragon said just above a whisper. "You're certainly real. You wouldn't happen to have a way of getting me out of here would you?"

"Well, uh, I've got a pocket knife. But first I've gotta get a key; it's important to keep our priorities in order. My aunt Ming told me that."

"She sounds smart."

"She is when she's not being a crab apple."

The Emperor chuckled as the boy sifted through the many layers of dust until he finally found the key. Benji held it above his head triumphantly.

"Ta da!"

"Excellent, young…"

"Benji, sir."

"Well, then, excellent job young Benji. Now that we have that out of the way, would you be so kind as to untie me?"

"Sure thing," Benji said and pulled out his pocket knife.

The Emperor looked at him quizzically. "Are you sure a boy your age should possess a weapon such as that one?"

Benji shrugged sheepishly as he knelt down to take care of the ropes binding his monarch's feet.

"Truth is I swiped it from my mom."

"I suspected as much. You'll have to return it to her later."

"I will. But for now I think I should undo your hands. What do you think?"

Benji stood up and waited for him to reply. But the reptile's face had gone ashen. Benji was about to ask why when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Instantly a shiver ran up his back. His breathing threatened to become irregular and his heart sped up. He slowly turned around to face the hands owner.

And that was when he saw it. The face of the _monster_. The face that haunted his nightmares that left him a sweating, sobbing mess.

His eyes and mouth widened in sheer terror. His lips trembled as he tried to form words and his knees knocked together. His entire body felt ice cold as he stared up into the bloodshot eyes.

This whole time the red panda standing before him had been gripping him by the shirt. At first the reaction of the kid seemed normal. But then he had looked closer. Then he saw…

Ban Lai grinned, showing his yellowed teeth. A small chuckle slipped past his tight lips.

"Hey there _boy_! Long time no see, eh?"

He chuckled again.

…**.**

**Okay, a show of hands and be honest now: Who would be scared? *raises hand***

**I don't own Kung Fu Panda. And in a small way I'm happy about it. Can you imagine the pressure of having to top what they've already done? But enough talk… I must leave…**

…**.**


	22. Chapter 22

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

Someone or something was making a rhythmic tapping noise. Besides this vague annoyance, there was relative silence in the dungeons. Some had fallen asleep. Others stared, recognizing the sheer horror of their situation.

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

Hope sighed and quit tapping her fingers against the bars. She rested her head.

…**..**

It had been a few hours or so and they were nearly there. They were still in the forest at the moment, but in the less condensed area.

"Okay guys, we're almost there."

"Good, great, that's so fantastic."

"Don't get excited or anything."

"I won't."

Tigress sighed. Po had been acting this way the whole walk back and she was getting sick of it.

"You've been acting this way the whole walk back and I'm getting sick of it!"

"Well _excuse me _if I'm not acting perky enough for you! Maybe I should take lessons from you, huh?"

"Would the two of you just shut up," Mantis pleaded. "You're like, ten times worse than Shifu and Taia used to be."

"Yeah," Po spat. "Used to be."

"So that's what this is about," Tigress asked. "You're whining because they're not together? Get over it! You knew it was a long shot in the first place!"

Po groaned out loud. "Look, I know okay! I always knew! It's not that! It's just… I like her you know? Like a friend. And I know that we're never going to see her again and I'm just kind of sad."

Mantis nodded. "Agreed dude. She was a pretty cool lady, but we've got to move on and focus on the task at hand."

The panda took a short, deep breath.

"You're right. I know you are. And I'm cool with it."

"Good," Tigress said. "It's about time everyone was focused. And, hey, look. There it is."

They'd reach the city. But… Something was wrong.

The place was crawling with mangy, flea bitten, easily identifiable-as-bad-guys, bad guys.

"What the-

Before Po could finish that thought, they were ambushed.

…**.**

Shifu had been trailing far, far behind them, moping.

_Wait… What am I doing?_

He wasn't a moper. He didn't drag his feet. He stood tall! He kept his back straight! He looked death in the eyes and stared it down! And he would not, _would not_, allow his students to undermine and walk away from him, even if they were right. He'd talk with Tigress; not yell at her, but just talk. She needed to understand where he was and what exactly it was that irked him. And he'd apologize to Po. Mantis too, he'd been ignoring him. Then it would be fine.

Master Shifu walked in his normal pace, head high, back straight, hands behind his back.

But what he didn't realize, or refused to, was that he was doing it again. He was wiping his memory of her, and soon enough, he was going to get a shock.

It of course didn't take him long to reach the city. Just in time to see them get attacked.

…**..**

"Sso ssorry to ruin thingss for you, but we can't have you esscaping, now can we?"

After he'd been informed of the close escape he'd moved his favorite prisoner to another spare room. Now She Du found it impossible to hide his smug grin as he wrapped the chains around the already gagged ex Monarch.

"Yess… Ssoon enough you'll get to be out of thesse. Ssoon enough…"

He finished tightening the chains and slithered down the chair, making sure to use his whip-like tail to flick the Komodo dragon's nose on the way down. Once he reached the floor he met the Emporer's coal black gaze with his own fiery pits. The large dragon couldn't hold back a shudder; She Du's demeanor could often be comical but when serious…

"I've decided how it's going to go. I'll take you out atop the highest balcony that overlooks the entire city. I'll call everyone to forth to gaze upon you one last time. And then they'll watch as spasms wrack your body, and the light leaves your eyes. Then they will understand the order that things should and will go in henceforth."

The cobra turned away from the smoldering gaze. He reached the door and opened it. Just before leaving he looked back briefly.

"Oh and… About your wife…"

This caught his attention, and the Emperor lurched forward as much he could manage, desperate to hear.

"Don't worry about a thing. I'll make sure to take _good_ care of her once you've gone."

With a chuckle he slammed the door on his captive's muffled screams.

…**.**

It took no time for Tigress to react. She didn't even think; she simply fought back. She blocked a strike and sent the offending thug flying sideways. She went on to administer a memorized series of moves to a small group of them. Po fought next to her and Mantis was running around at top speed, making sure to sure to warn the two if they weren't noticing something.

"Po, knife, on your right!"

Po spun, kicked the knife to the side and when the guy leapt forward, the panda used his large belly to make him bounce off, and high into the air. Before he had a moment to think an axe came flying at him, which he had to grab from on the sides and send flying behind him, along with the dude holding it of course.

Shifu arrived in time to see all of this. For a moment he just watched them, his students. They were excellent, and he wished for a moment that Monkey, Viper, and Crane were there; in a small way, in the back of his mind, he'd missed them on this trip. It wasn't quite right having only half the group… But he was rambling, and in his _head_ no less.

He dashed forward, and sent several of them flipping up in the air. The small master took time out to whack a few of them in the head for good measure. He made it over to the students.

"Forget these! We must get to the Palace! Po where's the stone?"

Po looked over, completely forgetting what happened earlier and answered, "It's right he- Wait I- Oh no."

"WHAT," the red panda shouted. His eyes immediately began to scan the ground trying to find the stone, and punched bandits out of his way to look.

Mantis glanced around while pinning down a rhino and spotted the stone. "Hey guys! It's over there, it's-!"

Halfway through his sentence a wolf snatched the stone and looked triumphant. A few seconds later he looked kind of pathetic as he cried and threw the stone in a random direction.

"I've got it! I've got it guys," Tigress shouted to them, kicking a few of the rogues out of her way. The stone was flying in a perfect arc down towards her. She reached up and closed her fist around.

Suddenly white hot pain awoke the sensory nerves in her paw, shooting upwards to her brain.

"AUGH," she cried and dropped it. Shaking, she raised her arm and stared at her burnt paw. The furry surface was blackened and even smoking a bit.

"How- How did it- It's, it's not even _possible_, it-

"Forget possible! It happened! Get over it," Po shouted at her as he grabbed the stone and dragged her towards the Imperial Palace. Dazed, she followed him, barely escaping the angry horde of enemy warriors.

The four of them managed to heave open the great doors and slam them shut before the mass reached them. Po and Shifu slid the iron locks shut. Mantis wiped his tiny hairless brow. Tigress stared at her paw.

_It couldn't have… It just… THAT. CAN'T. HAPPEN!_

"Tigress, I-

"NO! IT'S NOT POSSIBLE!"

"Tigress, please, just-

"_NO! IT GOES AGAINST ALL LOGIC WHATSOEVER! I- I- I- _I, I…."

She started to hyperventilate and instead of trying to talk, Shifu switched gears to try to keep her from passing out.

"Slow, slow, slowly… Deep breath in, through your nose. Hold. Out through your mouth. It's all okay…"

"But," she panted, starting to calm down. "It makes no logical sense! I haven't been able to feel anything in my hands in so many years and now-

"I know. I know. Sometimes things in life don't make sense but they happen anyway, and getting hurt can often be a part of that. I know how shocking it is for you; for so long you've felt like you, or at least that part, was solid and invincible. But that's not always the case, no matter how strongly we think it is. I understand completely. But now, we have a mission. Something is clearly going on here, a hostile takeover of some sort I suspect. We've been through this before at Gongmen, and we can go through this again now. But we need you to do that."

Her breathing had returned to almost normal and she continued to stare at the stone floor. His words were soothing, like ice on a burn, something she really wished she had now. Carefully, she stood up straight and looked him in the eyes.

"I apologize."

"As do I. Now let's go."

…**..**

He leaned his head back and took a swig from the bottle. The liquid burned down his throat and he shook his head to focus. He stumbled over to wear the small boy was sitting in a ball on the floor and got in his face, smiling.

"Just like ol' times, ain't it? Oh come on now, say something! Oh that's right, I'd forgotten that you'd finally grown a pair of ears. *hic* Well since there's nothing to talk about, why don't we play some games huh? I remember how much fun we used to *hic* have! C'mere."

Benji tried to run but his father was too strong; once being captain of the Imperial Army tends to have that effect. And alcoholism coupled with insanity can tend to get you kicked out of a job.

It was easy for Ban Lai to grab hold and lift him high in the air. Then he started to spin around in circles, going faster and faster. If Benji had been doing this with someone else he might've considered it fun; until he let go and threw him.

Benji's body slammed into the wall and he collapsed on the floor. He shakily reached up and touched the pulsing spot on his head. A gash had formed and was leaking sticky crimson blood.

Ban Lai took another swig from the bottle and looked over at him. He sniggered sadistically. "Aw, did the little man get an ouchie? Here, let's play doctor!"

He walked over in a swerving half drunk fashion. While Benji was still trying to get over the shock of his blow, he felt his left arm being yanked upwards. Ban Lai closed his hands around the tiny arm and squeezed. Benji gasped at the dull, increasing pain. It didn't take long for bruises to form.

"So patient, is this where it hurts? It hurts right here? Well then we'll just have to fix that; we'll amputate!"

He latched on to the small shoulder and yanked, twisting the arm backwards much farther than an arm should go. He applied more force and finally Benji couldn't hold it anymore and cried out. Tears welled in his eyes.

"Stop it… Please stop it…"

To his relief, his father quit twisting for a moment. "Oh look at that, he speaks!"

"Please, just stop," he begged, his voice beginning to break.

"Aw, did I hurt the little squeaker? Did the brat feel uncomfortable? Believe me it could be worse; remember when I did this when you were a tot? You really bawled back then."

Lips trembling he replied, "I remember now. Used to you were just in my nightmares… A monster."

"Monster, eh," he said. Ban Lai looked thoughtful and gave an approving nod. "Fitting," he said, before giving his boy's arm another dose. "It's not my fault y'know. If you coulda listened once in a while I wouldn'ta had to do this. It's your own fault really. And you'd better just be nice. I've broken this arm before and I can do it again, this time worse."

The welling tears began to come and slip down his cheeks. Before long his arm was going to come off from this treatment, and he knew it.

"Stop! STOP IT," he shouted and used his pain-free arm to smack his father. "LET GO OF ME!"

Surprisingly, his request was granted and he collapsed on the floor, his arm throbbing to go with his now swelling head injury. He looked up and met the bloodshot eyes that stared at him in amazement.

"You hit me…"

Benji didn't know what to say to that.

"_You _hit _me_. What makes you think that… That you can do that…?"

Instead of giving an answer, he ran to the door and tried to yank it open with his good arm. Unfortunately for him the top of the door was angled incorrectly making it almost impossible to budge. This gave Ban Lai time to stumble over and turn the bottle upside down in his mouth.

"So… You think you can pull the old hit and run… Think again brat."

A sharp pain and Benji was thrown into blackness.

…**.**

Shifu and the others were quietly making their way through the palace halls. Silently they opened the door that took them into the (empty) throne room. It was dark now, the Sun gone down, and it was hard to tell if there weren't really warriors hiding and waiting to strike.

"We must find the Emperor immediately and figure out just what is going on. In the mean time try to keep quiet there's no telling how many more of those ruffians are waiting to ambush us."

Just as he finished his sentence, they were ambushed. Again.

…

**A/N: Gee, nobody in this story can catch a break right now. R&R! And thank you so much to everyone who already has; you guys are awesome! **

**In other news, MY BIRTHDAY IS THIS WEEKEND! AND the week after that I'm going on vacation, so I'm not really sure when I'll get to update next; hopefully before the end of the month, but in the mean time I wrote and posted a Shifu related oneshot (if anybody's interested) called Loosening Up. Better than it sounds (I'm sure).**


	23. Chapter 23

Alright, alright, before anyone can yell at me for taking so long to update, IT'S NOT MY FAULT THIS TIME! What's that? You don't believe me? Well let me explain:

One day..

Me: Lalalalala, typing typing typing, I'm sure I'll be done by tonight! And if I plan accordingly I'll have another chapter up the very next day! Everyone will be so pleased!

Evil Computer Demon: Hehehehe...

Laptop: *fizz* *crash*

Me: NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

That's right everyone, my laptop crashed RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CHAPTER **AS I WAS TYPING IT! **I can't go to Windows, heck I can barely turn it on.

But, thankfully for everyone involved, my brother(in-law), the archangel of computer technology is currently taking time out of his personal life to see if he can retrieve the lost file from within my piece o' poo harddrive. Everyone, please say thank you to Bobby the Angel.

BtA: Silence puny mortal! If you wish for me to complete the task then I must have absolute-

Laptop: *fizz* *spark spark* *crash*

BtA: Well crap.

ME: What?

BtA: Well the part of your hard drive that saved that file is officially bad.

Me: ...

BtA: And you've also lost most of your other files as well.

Me: ...

BtA: ...

Me: ...

BtA: ...Your silence disturbs me...

Me: Well %&*$...

It's gonna be a while guys. I only remember parts of what I originally wrote and because I like my writing to be a certain way the rewriting is going to be a painful process. Plus the fact that if I planned write it probably would've taken more than 14 pages in Microsoft Word and i already had 7... Yeah this is gonna hurt, plus I have school, so please forgive me. I really was working hard. I'd had a goal in mind so that I would finish it at a certain time but that completely failed. So, yeah, sorry bout that.


	24. Chapter 24

It went the way many battles did. There were moments when everything was movement, the clang of sword against sword, the grunts and war cries, followed by the running of sweat and blood. Then there were times when everything went so slowly… The sight of a spear hurdling an inch from your nose seemed to be slowed to a grinding halt, giving your life a chance to flash before your vision, before settling once more as the spear continued on toward its destination. Mantis took a quick second to breathe before twisting a guy's neck in the right position to knock him unconscious; typical day at the office. Or it would have been if some of these rogues/mooks/lackeys/whatevers weren't so…weird… Granted a large number of them were pretty typical; there was the what-the-heck-where-did-you-come-from-I'm-now-angry-type, followed by the scared-of-conflict type, a few arrogant-idiots-realizing-the-truths and his favorite: I've-done-this-I-expected-conflict-I'm-not-afraid-but-I'm-not-stupid-either type. He enjoyed the latter because they presented a true test of skill, and the vertically-challenged-green-guy just loved a challenge. But the ones that were bothering him were the ones that were…kind of sick… Just now as he was executing a difficult maneuver he watched as Tigress swiped her claws at rhino that had been giving her grief. The rhino was knocked off balance and collapsed near a mountain cat. The cat spotted the blood on the floor and- Dipped its paw in… While Tigress was distracted the cat took the opportunity to deliver a swipe of her own. Tigress winced but was too busy with a group of crocs to pay any mind. The cat studied its paw, watching as the blood of the rhino mixed with the tiger blood. Then she licked her paw, slowly. Mantis resisted the urge to vomit at this (literally) bloodthirsty display, and returned to focus on the battle itself. But he was warier now…

They all were. Tigress had noticed something else; these guys didn't _stay down_. The second she knocked one out, five more showed up and by the time she had them down the others were at her again. They must have fought like this a lot because they'd made it to where skill didn't matter, and they could instead just hit them with wave after wave of attack. To her horror, Tigress realized that she was actually _sweating_ from the battle.

Meanwhile Po was just having a hard time getting the Dragon Stone to stay in one place. The rock had the odd habit of always landing on its rounded edge, giving it the chance to roll off. And of course there were other things the panda had to focus on besides the rock, so it usually took until he heard someone crying out that there hand was burnt for him to see that the stone had rolled up to a greedy someone.

"Come on, what's wrong with this thing," he muttered as he set the Dragon Stone on a shelf. Unfortunately for him, a large boar took the opportunity to swing a punch just as he was turning, causing the panda to turn sharply enough to knock the Dragon Stone off.

A web of crack slashed their way through the surface of the stone.

Po paid no mind and continued fighting the ox.

**…****..**

If anyone had had the time to look in that particular direction, they may have noticed something that could have been deemed unusual.

A faint glow came from the rock as the cracks slowly ebbed away from the ebony surface. The teeth of the dragon glinted, and the eyes gave the slightest of twinkles.

Someone could have also witnessed the stone prop itself upright and roll out of the throne room, down the hall, and off into the vast realms of the palace.

**…**

The old door opened with a loud _bang._ Ban Lai's head shot up and he looked around groggily. "Whatya want…?"

She Du shook his head. He looked around and spotted a body on the floor. A small puddle of blood was slowly forming. The snake cringed. "Did you do that?"

"Mmyeah…"

"Ugh… Well clean it up. You know how I feel about leaving people around. In the mean time though, are you going to watch?"

"No… I'm jus gonna nap now… Besides I can have my fun when it's time to dump him off…"

"Very well then…"

The door shut loudly behind him. Ban Lai rested his head once more.

Benji's leg twitched involuntarily, and then his body rested.

**…****.**

A soft moan escaped her lips. She chastised herself for it; throughout this ordeal she'd been trying her hardest to mask the pain but her efforts were fruitless. If only he would just come to see her… She knew it was hard for him to see her in pain, but it was even harder for her to endure this alone.

To add insult to injury, _no one_ had come in for hours. She was too weak to go get her own food or water or to even make it to the restroom, a fact which she found humiliating. She'd always been the strong one and now she was nothing more than a frail woman, incapable of handling herself.

A tear slipped down her cheek and she closed her eyes and rested her head to prevent any more from falling. She was on the verge of sleep, when she heard a soft _chink_. She snapped her eyes open and looked around. There was nothing to see; it sounded like it came from that direction…

Mustering up her strength she rolled to her side and looked over the edge of the bed. She saw what looked like a medallion of some sort. She reached down, grasped it weakly, and lifted it up to get a better look.

She'd never seen anything like it before. A rock with a dragon carved into it. She'd have to ask about it later. But for now…

She fell asleep. The stone rested on her chest. Once more the eyes shone brightly. The glow began to spread throughout the rock and slowly it seeped into the Komodo dragon. In the dimly lit room the light bounced off the walls.

Her tense body relaxed.

**…**

Shifu was getting sick and tired of this. All he wanted to do was use a chi move to wipe them all out, but this was of course impossible with his students in the direct path. He looked to wear Tigress was lazily swatting away a few thugs. Lazy meant she wasn't doing it with precision like she normally would and was _literally_ swatting them. Po wasn't much better and it looked like Mantis was all out of juice.

Would this be how it ended? Unable to defend themselves against warriors that seemed to be no more than simpletons? It was a humiliating thought. But it was overshadowed by another one.

_What we need is a miracle…_

Then, as if on cue, the great doors to the throne room burst open and light flooded in. Everyone stopped to look where there stood, silhouetted in the door frame, a small black clad figure. From within its robes they withdrew a silver blade which they pointed at the crowd.

**"****CHAAAAARRGGEEE!"**

The cry bounced throughout the stone chamber. Shifu stood in awe as the ground beneath him began to thunder and quake. In flooded tens of hundreds of animals of different sizes, shapes, and colors, wielding homemade weapons.

It was the people of the Imperial City. Moments ago they had been quivering in fear within their homes. But the Figure had arrived and rallied them. No longer would they wait for a mighty warrior or master to come save their hides. Today the battle was theirs, as they used kitchen knives, gardening tools, iron pots, and instruments to whack, smack, and beat down the offending army. And leading the charge was Deng, the silver fangs his father gave him out and glinting.

It was the strangest feeling, but somehow seeing these novice fighters giving their all to protect their home as well as their monarchs, spurred the masters on. Suddenly Tigress had plenty of energy and was back to using calculating moves to not only fight off the rogues, but also to help some of the lesser fighters. Mantis looked within and found a new surge of speed which he used to his advantage. Po put on a smile and didn't take it off.

As for Shifu, he knew instantly just who the Figure was. He managed to fight his way over and whispered, "Thank you."

In return he heard, "It's my job."

And just as quickly as she'd arrived Shifu watched as she zipped away from him. A sigh escaped as he watched the tip of her fluffy tail disappear, and he distracted his sadness by delivering a fierce punch to the guy on his right.

**…**

Ming slumped. She was starving and exhausted and she felt like she could just-

"Well, well, well, isn't this just the most pathetic thing I've ever had the displeasure of witnessing?"

Looking up the rabbit lady met a pair of glaring green eyes.

"What-

"I saved your butts once and now I have to do it again? What a bunch of worthless cowards!" One by one she broke the cells open as she continued this verbal abuse. "Do you not realize that out there right now are people who want to take over all of China? The same people who took away your homes, family members, and recently destroyed your last place of refuge. And you're all sitting here feeling sorry for yourselves…"

Suddenly they all felt ashamed.

"I'm giving you one more chance. The kids will stay here. The rest of you are free to do what you want. I'm expecting there to be a rush of people to go fight. Will I be disappointed?"

She wasn't. Everyone over the age of sixteen scrambled for the exit and released battle cries as they went. Ming asked, "Think I could get my hands on a frying pan or two?"

"There's a few up there."

"See you in a while."

She watched as her friend left. Then she looked around until she found two of the group of three she was looking for.

"Mom," Li cried. The two girls ran over and hugged her and were squeezed tightly in return.

"Where's your brother?"

"He ran away again."

"Well, hopefully he's safe. Stay here all of you."

And with that she grudgingly released the girls from her arms and turned to leave.

**…****.**

"Quite a view isn't it?

He silently agreed with the snake. Many a time he had walked out onto this balcony to gaze upon and admire his vast kingdom. Now it was a different kind of view, filled with sorrow. For not only were things destroyed, he knew this would be the last time he gazed upon the city.

She Du coiled himself up and around the Komodo's body. The snake had been acting almost…lustful, ever since he had been transferred to the balcony. The snake kept wrapping his thick body around the lizard's limbs and flicking his tongue out to graze the curved neck. Just now he nipped the neck causing a flinch and a shudder to shoot through the reptilian body. His jaw tightened beneath the cloth gag.

"Calm yourself," he spoke in a chuckling whisper. "It will come with time. We mussn't rush thingsss.."

"Actually we probably should. Because I have places to go, people to see, and idiots to lock up. So if we could make this quick…"

She Du turned and saw a person dressed in black. It must be- Yes! The Savior! That little- But wait… The face was concealed but the voice… It was-

"You're a woman?!"

"Yeah, that's kind of old news. As for current business-

She leapt forward and dealt him a kick to the chin. The upper half of his ebony body fell backwards and his grip on the reptile loosened. She took this opportunity to yank him off. She delivered a few nerve hits sending the evil serpent twitching violently. But there was a reason that he was her toughest opponent, which he proved as he took advantage of the spasms by lashing out with his fangs.

She leapt and he took the opportunity to shake himself off. He unsheathed his fangs to their full glistening glory and her knife was once more divulged. The two of them had waited for this day for too long to fight idly.

He struck. She dodged and hit. He used his tail against her like a whip. The lashes ricocheted off each other in a way that was almost beautiful. They silently agreed that this was their most difficult and most enjoyable fight ever.

Soon she saw an opportunity. He had leapt in the air, aiming to sink his teeth into her face. She executed a split that gave her a chance to look at his underbelly. Reaching forward and upward she touched the spot. He collapsed in a limp pile.

"WHAT? NO!"

"I'll admit, I've had longer battles. But, eh, I'm not complaining."

She picked him up and wrapped his lithe body around a post, ending it off in a tight knot. "Try getting out of that one," she spat at him. With him out of the way, she marched over to the Komodo dragon and ceremoniously undid his bindings. She bowed. "Forgive me for all of this trouble your majesty. I can assure you that-

"Never mind all of that! There's a war going on down there!"

Taia pricked her ears up. But she didn't really need to, because though they were so far from it, the sounds of battle could be heard as if they were in the next room. She hadn't had time to focus on that before, but now images flashed through her mind of her friends fighting.

"I need to get down there."

"Yes, but first there's something else. There was a young boy here who tried to free me, but sadly for the both of us he was captured by a villain named Ban Lai. I believe they knew each other."

Taia stared at him. "Ban Lai you say?"

"Yes."

"Hm. Well, excuse me." She turned and marched inside, off the balcony out of the room and down a hall. Her face was calm and stony as she made her way throughout the palace. She knew exactly who Ban was and what he could do to someone, especially a child. Closing her eyes she calmly allowed her mind to roam. It didn't take long for her to know where to go. Down she went, down the stairs, through rooms and hallways, only now she was running. She closed her eyes again and she was there; hopefully her strongest instinct hadn't failed her. She pushed the door open.

She saw a filthy creature resting its head on a table. She looked over and there was the person she had come for. Careful not to wake the sleeping beast, she slipped over, lifted the young boy and cradled him to her. His eyes fluttered. "Mama?"

"Yes my darling," she spoke, while she unwrapped the mask from her head and ears and pressed the cloth to the back of his head. The wound had already mostly scabbed over, much to her relief. She looked as a sleepy smile crossed his lips. A terrible achy feeling welled up inside her. "I'm so sorry my baby."

"Mokay…"

She kissed his forehead and gently rocked him, trying to hide her fear. That was the tough thing for her; being a Kung Fu master as well as mother is most difficult when, no matter how skilled you may be, you are unable to protect those you love. Cold, sickening guilt washed through her veins, and she begged herself not to cry. Too late. Tears slipped as she noticed the bruises on his arms and legs.

"Mmokay Mama… I'll be okay…"

She closed her eyes and pressed her cheek to his forehead. She opened her eyes again to see that his were closed. A short moment of panic before she saw the steady breaths rising and falling in his chest. A weak smile spread across her face. He'd be fine… He was young. Children were resilient. She carefully stood up and took him out of the room. She looked around and found a servant's closet with a small cot. She rested him on it and made sure his breathing was still even, before closing the door _almost_ shut, and going back to the room where the monster was. Still sleeping; good. She'd have an advantage. She walked over and poked him. The head rose and she was met with bloodshot eyes and a vicious scowl. "What do you want, bitch?"

"I want to hurt you." She gripped the handle of her knife that was now in her pocket.

He let out a sick laugh. "What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with you? You were given something wonderful. And you hurt him." Her glare burned down on him. "And you won't hurt him again."

She pulled the knife out and before he had time to act she sank it into his heart. His cry echoed in the room. She yanked the now bloody knife out, before sinking it back inside him. This time he collapsed backwards and off his chair. She kicked the chair away and overturned the table in her rage. A fire had been lit inside her, one which needed to be put out. She took hold of the knife again, yanked, and plunged it in once more. Over and over and over… Until his cries of pain turned to cries for mercy. She put her knee in the center of his chest as she delivered the final blow. Blood welled up and ran out of his mouth and onto the stone floor. And with that, he moved no longer.

She removed the knife one last time and used her robe to clean it. She rose, walked out, and shut the door behind her. She took in a deep breath, before shaking her head, and walking through the halls and towards the battle.

**…**

Things were going well for them. Granted these new recruits needed help every five seconds, but some of them were proving to be quite useful. Shifu spotted Ming in the crowd and chuckled as she slammed a frying pan into a rhino's face. He'd begun to use a few 'domino moves' which involved using force to propel large groups backwards. He executed yet another of these and gave a satisfied grin. Looking around it was clear that everyone was doing well. Then he saw her. Her mask was gone. Her robes had dark stains covering them. He made his way over to her. "Are you alright?"

"Never better," she grunted. She sounded both frustrated and fatigued. He instinctively wanted to tell her to rest, but bit his tongue at the risk that she might cut it off.

"Want to join in the fight?"

"Sure. Whatever."

And so she did. But it was hardly necessary. Before long the rogues were lying in battered and bruised heaps all over the place. Po, Tigress, and Mantis stood tall (well as tall as Mantis _could_ stand). Ming came over to her friend.

"Hey, what happened?"

"S'not important."

"What do you mean-!"

"I _said_ it's not important! Isn't that enough for you? Both of you," she added with a snap in Shifu's direction. She turned away from them and stomped off. Shifu sighed. "I'll go after her."

He followed, expecting to have to calm down an angry warrior, for whatever reason. But as he followed he saw her go into a closet. This confused him and he stepped forward and poked his head inside. He saw her sitting on the bed, her eyes filled to the brim with tears as she rocked her sleeping son back and forth. The old master backed away and went off to see if he could find anyone who knew anything about medicine. Finally in the crowd he found a healer. He directed her to where closet was and sent her on her way. He was about to follow until he heard cheering and looked to where even more civilians were pouring in, cheering, shouting, some even singing. It was obvious they proud of themselves, as he supposed they had every right to be. He gave a small smile before going back to his friend's side.

When he reached the closet, he found Taia was having an intense argument with the healer.

"I'm sorry, but I really need you to step out so that I may cure him."

"Leave him alone? Fat chance! I'm staying here!"

Shifu cleared his throat to get her attention. "Maybe you should leave. After all that is what she-

"Stay out of it!"

"Hey!"

To his relief, he saw that Ming had arrived. Hopefully one woman would be able to deal with the other.

"Listen," Ming said, a bit more gently. "The kid needs to get better. He'll be alright for a little while without you. In the mean time, don't you have a couple more kids downstairs?"

"Oh my gosh, I forgot!"

Before heading down to the dungeons she gave the healer a fierce glare. "He'd better be in the same if not better condition when I get back." With that she left the room but stopped short before going to the dungeons. She turned to look at her male friend. "Shifu?"

"Yes? What's wrong?"

She came closer to him and whispered in his ear. "First, thank you. And second, that room over there? There's something in there that… That I'm not proud of. But I'm not ashamed either."

"I'll take care of whatever it is," he replied solemnly.

"Thank you."

They both turned to go in their separate directions. Shifu looked at the door she must have been talking about and gulped. He gave it a push, and saw what was inside. H shut his eyes and the door once more.

_No wonder she's upset… That part of the job is never easy…_

He'd have to take care of this later. For now he went back to the throne room. He saw that the Emperor was now seated in his grand seat, and was shaking hands/paws/claws with the young masters as well as many of the citizens. He wore a regal smile as he did so, clearly quite proud of his empire; even if it wasn't the Imperial guards who had been there to save the day.

Shifu brushed aside the unsettled feeling in his stomach. The bad guys had been roped, chained, and thrown outside where a few individuals were having fun by poking them with sticks. People were still cheering, laughing, shouting. Children were pouring in from downstairs in the dungeon. Ming came back up and he even saw her give a genuine smile. Deng looked happy too, and was chatting with Mantis. He watched as Po reached forward as if to hug Tigress, but thought better of it and gave her a pat on the back, to which she gave him a tiny half smile.

**…**

He finally was able to move. He struggled against the knot which had been tied in his body. Carefully twisting and manipulating, he was able to slither out of the knot, down the pillar, and through the door that led back inside.

**…**

The Emperor smiled broadly once more. In the darkest hour everyone had been saved. In fact the only thing that could have made him happier would be if-

And there she was. His jaw dropped when he saw her. He'd thought she'd never make it, but there she was, standing in the side doorway in her normal silk gown, her head held high and proud. He immediately rose, marched over and encompassed her in his arms, not caring a bit that there were people around and it normally wasn't considered proper for him to openly show affection towards his queen in public. He felt her return the hug. As he felt the tenseness and his worries melt away, a tear or two slipped down his scaly cheek.

He pulled away to look her in the eye. "How are you- I mean- How is it possible that-

"I don't know," she replied calmly. "It's the strangest thing. You see before I fell asleep last, I found this by the bed." She showed him the stone. "Other than that, I can't think of a single thing that's out of the ordinary."

He recognized the stone immediately. Then he remembered…

"Your majesty? If I may-

"Thank you," he said as he looked down at the Grandmaster. "Thank you, thank you, and once more thank _you_ for saving my wife."

"Well to be honest, I didn't even have that much to do with it. If it weren't for my friend I wouldn't have even been able to read the map. Isn't that right Taia?"

She showed up next to him without saying anything, making him have to sense her prescence.

"Yes, that's true, but there's more to it. You see that map you gave us? It was a fake."

_"__What?"_

Taia stared nonchalantly at the collective group that had just _What-_ed her. Then she looked over to a rabbit that Shifu had a vague memory of seeing at the house.

"Hey," she called. "Get over here and explain the situation." The rabbit listened and walked over slowly. Now Ming, Li, Hope, Po, Tigress, Mantis, Shifu, The Emperor and Empress, as well as a few others stared at the two of them. The rabbit cleared his throat.

"Let's start at the beginning. Yes that map you were given was forged. You see, She Du was the reason you fell ill your majesty. He injected you with a special poison he had cooked up. Then he planted the map as a false lead."

Li and Hope stared at the rabbit they'd previously known only as Veggie Man. "You talk?" Hope asked in awe.

"The stone is a fake?" Po asked him.

"You lied to me?" Shifu asked Taia. She rolled her eyes, exasperated.

"Yes, he talks. No, it's not a fake. Yes, I lied. You see Veggie Man here is more than a crazy guy. He's a former general of a foreign army. Now he works undercover. He was the brains of my operation against She Du; he'd have a couple of his guys figure out was going on, he'd inform and advise me, and I'd go in to stop the whole thing.

"I'm a senior agent," Deng said proudly.

"That was how we figured out the whole deal about the stone," Taia continued matter-of-factly. "What I didn't know was that you guys would show up," she added, looking Shifu in the eye.

"But how-

"Let us finish," the rabbit interrupted Po. "You see, my family was once the guards of the sacred relic known today as the Dragon Stone. There came a time when it was necessary to hide the stone away. When this was done a map was created. One that only I have."

"I knew about the whole thing," Taia picked up. "And knew that that map couldn't be real. So yes, I lied about knowing a whole bunch of languages, and switched maps with Chen Ling here."

"But I still couldn't read it," Shifu cried.

"Well duh. It was written backwards." She turned now to Chen. "One thing I don't understand. Why did you allow everyone to get captured? You and you're guys could've taken them!"

"Maybe a few, but the whole army? Besides, I had a feeling that after this whole thing was over, that house would need to go. There were too many memories there for all of us." He turned to the crowd of refugees. "Besides… We don't need it anymore."

Taia looked at all of them, recalling each individual time that she had saved them. She spoke loudly, "It's over now. She Du is upstairs, defeated. You can go now. You're free. You're free!"

And with that the cheering started up again. She'd never seen people so impossibly happy, and couldn't blame them. They'd finally be able to live in their own homes and see family members and get _on_ with their lives.

Then it hit her. What was she going to do now? She had no home, nowhere to go… And she had three kids, one of them injured! Where-

She looked over and met Shifu's eyes. They hadn't really talked much. It was about time they cleared the air. He seemed to think the same. They left and went to another room.

"So," he said awkwardly. "Nice outfit."

"Yeah, I picked it up on the way."

"Do you always change clothes whenever you go to fight?"

"No, it just sometimes makes me feel a little more confident, you know?"

"No, not really, but I don't suppose it matter right now, does it? We didn't come to talk about fashion choices, or at least I didn't."

"Well than what do you want to talk about?"

"I think you know. I'd like to offer you a place to stay, I really would. But as it is I'm not sure how well your children would do at the palace considering that they aren't learning Kung Fu, not to mention that you and I aren't exactly getting along the best lately-

"And whose fault is that?"

"I'd like to say it was the both of us, but to be honest I'm still rather upset with you-

"Oh, so it's my fault?"

"Did I say that?"

"No, you implied that."

"I implied nothing, I said what I meant."

"You never say what you really mean."

"Oh yes," he snarled, his ears pinned back. "Well I mean this!"

She braced herself for the insults.

"I miss you! I miss talking with you! I miss laughing with you! I miss the way you irritate me for fun! The reason I ran you out that first time was because I was so used to having you around that the thought of losing you scared me and I… I just went crazy for a minute… And I've regretted it terribly. I blocked you from my memory altogether. Then, recently, you were jarred back in. Ever since I can't stop thinking about how good things used to be. And then, there you were! Back in my life again! And again, I was afraid to lose you! So I pushed you away, hoping that I would quit caring about you. But it didn't work. All I succeeded in doing was driving you away and hurting you terribly. I know you're not immature. Yes you act like you are but when push comes to shove there's no one I'd rather have by my side. So if you can forgive me, I'd love if the two of us could be friends again, whether you live in the Valley or not."

She stared at him with shock. He felt the same way. "I was scared too. I was taking a big leap in my life and all I wanted was for you to either support me or tell me that you wanted me to stay or… Just something besides what you actually did!"

"And I know that now."

"So…."

"So? Can you forgive me for acting like a crazed idiot?"

"Can you forgive me for lying and yelling and whining and everything else?"

"Yes."

"Then yes, of course."

She stepped forward, wrapped her arms around him, and rested her head on his chest. He stood still for a moment. Hugs were still something he was getting used to. So she was pleasantly surprised when she felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her. They both smiled.

"Ma'am I- oh am I interrupting?"

"No," Taia replied to the healer without breaking the embrace.

"Oh, well you're son is doing better. His sisters are with him right now."

"I'll be with him in a moment, and thank you."

The healer left, and Taia continued to smile and hug her friend. She pulled away slightly so that she could look him in the eyes. She always loved his eyes. He stared at her. She leaned forward. He shut his eyes bracing himself for what he was sure would happen and-

"Hey guys I- Aw sick!"

Deng received a set of heated glares. Hey, it wasn't his fault they were about to start making old people love when he came in.

"Tay, there's a slight problem. I went upstairs and he wasn't where you told me he'd be."

"Who," Shifu asked, out of the loop.

"Uh, my dad? The guy who planned and executed this entire crazy thing? He's not where you left him and knowing him he could be anywhere by now!"

"Oh dang it," she grunted, stepping away from Shifu and gripping her temples. "I knew I should have just knocked him out!"

"Not even that would have helped you…"

She turned and met glowing red eyes. The owner leapt at her, fangs at the ready. For one of the first times ever, she stood frozen, unsure of what to do.

"NO!"

Shifu leapt in front of her and the cobra's teeth sank into his neck. He fell to the floor, writhing in pain.

"SHIFU!"

She was at his side in a heartbeat. She used her knee to prop him up and held the place where he'd been bitten. She called for help but no one came. She watched as his eyes fluttered and threatened to shut forever.

"Please Shifu, no, I don't know what to do! You can't leave me," she sobbed. "I just got you back… I need you… I love you…"

He didn't hear her for he'd fainted. Tears spilt down her cheeks and she rested her face against his forehead. Then she heard shouting, and looked up.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Deng struck at his father again. "I'm doing what's right you sick murderer!"

"How dare you," She Du hissed in a scarily calm voice. His glare was terrifying, but Deng didn't look away.

"After all I've done for you…"

"You have done nothing for me, or for anyone," Deng said. He shuddered with suppressed rage. "You are a monster. You're not my father and you never were."

"You see, most people would be depressed. But I can't tell you how happy I am right now."

"Why?"

"Because now I can do thisss."

He snapped at him fiercely, and Deng had to dodge the superior set of fangs. Whip-like tails lashed at each other and hisses echoed in the room. A fire burned in both pairs of yes, one red and angry, and the other blue, cold, and uncaring for the other any longer. Deng had always harbored a minute affection towards the other. This had just been shattered when his father had attempted to harm one of his closest friends. One of his _only_ friends in fact. He didn't care for the old snake's safety. He didn't care at all.

He snapped again and once more had to pull away from the teeth. Then they came at him, mouth open at 180 degree angle, ready for death. In that moment, he snapped.

Deng whipped his father's head down. Then he struck. His teeth sank deeply into the base of the neck and came out the other side. He listened to agonized screams. He shook his head vigorously with his father still in his mouth, the way a crazed dog would sometimes be found shaking a stray toy. He pulled the teeth out and let the head hit the floor. The eyes still glowed, still glared. They sent him into another bout of fury.

This time he moved farther up. He took the head in his mouth and bit down hard, sinking his fangs through scales and scull, to pierce the fleshy brain. Taia looked in horror as she saw the tips of Deng's fangs come out through the top of She Du's mouth. He shook furiously whipping the body of his opponent about, until finally it was limp as rope. Still he thrashed.

He felt tiny hands on the top his head. They took hold of his jaw and pulled the fangs from the corpse's skull. Deng met Taia's eyes as his father's blood trickled down the side of his mouth. He turned to where the body lay.

She allowed him to rest his head on her shoulder as he cried.

Ming walked in and saw everything. She looked on while the red panda lady still knelt near her suffering friend with blood soaking into his robe, and comforted the defeated one with the blood of his father in his stomach. Their eyes met. They both looked away. Ming looked at the body and shuddered, shook her head, and left to find the healer once more.

**...**

**I have nothing to say except that I don't own Kung Fu Panda.**


	25. Chapter 25

**This is the last chapter. And I still don't own Kung Fu Panda, though that's probably a good thing, considering how psychotic I'd probably make it. Actually, Monkey would be interesting as an axe murderer, and if I brought Kahn back… Oh, yeah, sorry! On with the show! Story… Thing… Oh just read it already.**

**…****.**

There was a strange, still blackness and he slowly became aware of more than just the ache in his limbs and head. His eyes slid open heavily and he rolled his gaze to the side. She was kneeling there, her head on the bed, asleep from sheer exhaustion. Her hand was loosely gripping his still, and he squeezed in an attempt to wake her. Immediately her head shot up and she looked around wildly. When she saw him awake a huge smile broke from her lips, and she held his hand to her face.

He smiled sleepily and was now aware that something was breathing on his other hand. He rolled his head to look where the tiger master had fallen asleep as well, her head on the bed. He lifted his hand and rested it on her forehead, gently stroke her head with his thumb. Just as quickly as the other female had, she sat up to see him awake. Happiness tugged at the corners of her mouth. Then the red panda lady decided to spread the same happiness.

"HE'S ALIVE!"

Instantly the door broke down and a black and white blur came in and scooped up the now fully awake master.

"OH MY GOSH WE WERE SO WORRIED, BUT NOW YOU'RE OKAY AND THE BAD GUYS ARE GONE AND-

Po noticed that where a few seconds ago he had been squeezing his mentor, he was now squeezing his own self. Mantis, who had rushed in behind his much larger friend, stopped running around the room in frantic circles.

"Please panda… I'm still tired…"

He pressed his head back into the soft pillow and closed his eyes.

"YAAAAYYYY!"

Another blur came in, this one pale white, and it proceeded to leap on the bed and jump up and down.

"Hope, get down."

The jumping came to a gradual stop, but instead of crawling down the way she had been ordered to, she instead flopped onto the bed and cuddled the master's arm. She then sat up and spread a ragged piece of cloth over him before returning to the aforementioned cuddling.

"She must really like you," her mother whispered to him. "That's the first time I've ever seen her share her blanket."

A rabbit came in, passing by the panda who was still bouncing up and down a little with happiness.

"Hey," Li said, quietly, standing close to her mom.

"Where's your brother," Taia inquired.

"I'm here…"

Shifu sat up enough to where he could see the young boy standing in the doorway with bandages wrapped round his head. He slowly made his way over towards the bed, and Taia planted a kiss atop his bandages.

"Now see here, why is everyone gathering around me like this?"

"Because we were worried about you, you big dummy."

"Shifu, it was so weird," the panda broke in. "It was like the Dragon Stone was alive! It just rolled over to you and, well, glowed and stuff!"

"Also, it turns out that once the stone heals you, you're free to carry it. And according to the rabbit fellow, the reason the rest of us were unable to hold it was because there was no injury upon us for it to heal."

"Basically it was the rock's way of whacking us with a staff to get us to put it down, the way you do sometimes when you want personal space," Mantis added to Tigress's statement.

"What a stubborn little stone."

"I know, and isn't it unbelievably convenient that it was there to heal you," Taia said.

"Not to mention how convenient it was that you happened to know someone who had the real map," he replied.

"And how about how ridiculously convenient that you two met up again," Mantis pointed out.

"I think Po is to blame for that one," said Tigress, with the slightest of eye rolls.

"Well, uncanny convenience or not, we're just glad you're alive."

"Very," everyone else agreed.

It wasn't long before Shifu was up and about once more. He confessed to the Emperor that he lacked the ability to read what was on the map for a rather confusing and ridiculously contrived reason, but the monarch was too distracted by joy to notice him. He and his wife had been acting like a pair of school children as of late. The festivities hadn't stopped, with fireworks even grander then the New Years', or the ones seen after the defeat of Lord Shen, or so Mantis insisted, though Po wasn't as easily swayed. As the two argued, Tigress made her way through the crowd to where Deng was. The young snake had been in a shocked state since what happened.

"Hey… It's going to be okay you know…"

"Yeah… People keep telling me that… It's just that, well, I snapped. I told myself I never would and I did, and I killed him, and I shouldn't have and-

She stopped him by resting a paw in the area where she guessed was his back. He released a shuddering sigh before falling silent.

"The mark of a warrior is not their will to kill those around them, but the will to protect others faithfully. You may not look it, but it is the heart of a warrior that pulses within you."

He slowly lifted his head to look into the understanding eyes. He lowered his head once more and released a tentative sigh. His muscles relaxed a bit, and Tigress stood up straight, confident that with time he would understand.

Meanwhile, Shifu let out a sigh of his own as he shut the door behind him and walked out into the palace garden. It was _very_ large, owing to the royal family's green thumbs. He made his way along a dirt path lined with stones. He finally reached a small hill where there grew a tiny apple tree with tiny apples. He rested himself and crossed his legs, fully intent on clearing his mind before the long trip home.

"Inner peace… Inner peace…"

"Um, sorry, but can we talk?"

He ceased his breathy chanting to look over where Taia was standing, scuffing her toes in the dirt. "Fine," he said a bit sharply, due to his never ceasing annoyance at being interrupted. She tentatively sat down, crossed her legs and looked him in the eyes.

"So," she coughed, clearing her throat. "About, uh… About before you, well, got bitten and everything, uh, well, I was just sort of wondering what exactly was going through your head. Not that anything weird happened! Just, uh… A little out of the ordinary, don't you think..?"

She looked up once more to see him smiling. "Yes, I'll admit that was a bit different I suppose."

She smiled a bit relieved to hear him speak so freely about the situation.

"After all, how often is it that one of us is willing to apologize to the other," he chuckled.

Her eyes squinted in confusion. "What… I-

"Once again I'm very sorry for the whole incident, and I am quite glad that you were willing to forgive my shortcomings as a friend."

"Oh, um, okay… Thank you..?"

"No trouble at all."

And with that he rose to his feet and walked away. Taia remained sitting there with a dazed expression. She was still wearing that expression when her friend showed up.

"Hey, you might want to get inside, the kids have had a lot of sugar and- Hey I'm talking to you!"

Taia shook her head slightly and looked at her friend. Ming had been a little different lately. Cranky as ever, but just the same she seemed to be less depressed.

"Have you ever felt like your heart has gotten stomped on?"

"Hoo boy… Master of the Mustache giving you trouble?"

"Sort of… It's just I thought he felt, well, I don't know, maybe the same way I do."

"Well at least you're finally owning up to it," the rabbit pointed out as she plopped down next to her friend. "And hey, I've seen you in this rut before, after Kara died. You got out of it, remember? In case you don't I'll be glad to tell you that I'm finally out of my own rut."

Taia's eyes widened. "You mean-!"

"Yes, yes, I've decided to move on. I mean, you met the guy once or twice, right? Do you think my husband would've honestly wanted me to stay the way I was; alone, bitter, never willing to do anything about it."

"No," she grinned. "I don't think he would have."

Taia reached over and slugged Ming in the arm.

"Hey! What was that for?"

"For being my bestest friend ever!"

And with that the red panda lady gripped her friend in a hug that the other found impossible to get out of, no matter how hard she struggled. Finally the rabbit lady just sighed, gave the tiniest of grins, and patted her companion on the back.

**…**

"Going home! Going going going home! GO-ING HooooooOOOO-MUH!"

"If you sing like that the rest of the way, I WILL kill you in your sleep."

"Understood…"

Hope giggled as she listened to the tiger and panda. She of course wasn't fully understanding, but she usually found grown-up speak to be funny.

Everyone was just outside the city now, having already bid the Emperor and Empress farewell. Now they just had to say goodbye to each other.

"See you kid," Taia said, squeezing her young cobra friend. "You'll never understand how important what you've done is."

"Actually, I think I might already know," he said, smiling for the first time in a while. Taia could see easily how much he had matured since their last encounter, and she was very proud that he was able to do it on his own. After teasing Ming a bit, and squeezing the kids a couple times, the ebony creature slithered off to parts unknown. After everything that had happened, he'd decided to travel a bit, see new things, and try to find a new peace of mind.

"You're sure you don't want to come with us," Taia inquired, sad, already knowing the answer.

"I'm sure. I need to meet new people, try new things. I've been doing the same thing day in and day out for so long that I need to find myself again. I mean, it's not like my life ended when his did; I've still got a lot of living to do!"

Her friend nodded, not even trying to hide her disappointment. Perhaps it was selfish, but she didn't care. She hugged her friend tightly.

"Hey," Ming whispered in her ear. "Whatever happens, don't become a slave to your emotions. Trust me, it's not fun, and it's not easy to quit."

Ming then turned to where Shifu was. She stuck her paw out and he shook it.

"If he ever gives you any trouble, just tell me," Ming whispered, not so quietly this time. "I'll be sure to come over with my frying pan at the ready."

The two shared a laugh and the children hugged their Aunt Ming goodbye before she too left to find a new place of being. With them gone, Taia turned to the masters.

"So, I guess this is goodbye?"

"Aw, but I want to go with them," Li whined, sinking into brat mode.

"Yeah, they're cool," Benji agreed.

"And they live in a Green House!"

"It's actually a Jade Palace," Shifu corrected the little one. "And it happens to have several empty rooms. There are even rooms in the barracks where the Five and Po sleep."

Three pairs of eyes widened at the thought of living so close to these heroes that stood there before them, not to mention the reptile, avian, and primate whom they were all yet to meet. They slowly turned to their mother who looked Shifu in the eye.

"Are you asking us to move in?"

"Yes, well… At least until you find your own place of course. I thought you might want to return to our ways again…. _Master _Taia."

Her eyes widened and she was taken back to the time when she had first been given that title of Master… Oh to be back amongst those who were up with the sun and asleep with the stars… To have a simple yet comfortable room… Clothes that fit better and displayed your rank. And above all, to be back in the place where she had grown and changed and been taught into what she was now. It seemed too good to be true. Even if she couldn't stay at the Palace forever, the thought of just _being _in the place where her own mentor, Oogway, had spoken his confusing words of wisdom excited her to no end. Yet there was fear as well. She could tell Shifu felt it too. What if history repeated itself once more?

She breathed deeply through the nose to get oxygen to her brain and clear her mind. Slowly she released the breath through her mouth and saw the eager faces of the children (and Po). Tigress and Mantis looked accepting. Shifu was just waiting.

"Alright."

This was met with a great deal of cheering, as the kids plus Po jumped up and down and hugged each other. They then decided to race to their now shared home, and ran forward down the path, with Taia calling after them to be careful.

"They're going to get tired pretty soon," Tigress commented.

"Yep," Mantis agreed. "How much you want to bet that Po's the first one to stop?"

"Hm, let me think on that one," said she with a friendly enough grin as the little green guy hopped on her shoulder for a ride. They walked ahead in a weak attempt to catch up with the others. This left the two senior Masters alone. The green eyed lady looked to her friend.

"Thank you," she said in a voice barely above a whisper.

He shook his head. "No thanks needed."

She nodded a little, still wearing a tiny smile. She stuck her hand out in his direction and he looked at it for a brief moment before grasping it in his own.

"We're still friends right?"

"Always."

They walked forward, not speaking. They didn't have to.

**…****.**

**There we go. I NEVER intended for it to take this long to finish and I am SINCERELY sorry for that. Actually I'm here to apologize for a few different things; elements of this story that I look back on and wince. Here's a short list.**

**Hope's little dance way back around chapter 8? If you haven't already, please forget I wrote that.**

**The pointless shout outs that I pointlessly pointed out to people.**

**The Russian thing…. I'll admit I sort of came up with that on the spot. Please forgive me if I offended any Russians.**

**The way She Du poisoned the Empress. I know snake venom doesn't work that way, though I could justify it by saying that She Du does seem the type that would come up with a different kind of poison which he could inject someone with.**

**How horribly some of the chapters dragged in mindlessness and just made the whole thing longer.**

**The lack of humor. I'm not good at being funny, though I try.**

**The author notes like this one. I read a few over again and they seem to scream 'PITY ME!' Believe me, I'm sorry.**

**This list. **

**Well, there you go. I'm sure there are a few other things, but then I have to stop and realize that this is FANfiction. Not everything is going to be perfect and of course there's always room for error. Besides why should I sit and complain when I could be SO happy about the fact that I have OVER 100 REVIEWS?! YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME! A few special mentions go to:**

**Babycakes22: Who's been here since the beginning.**

**mad eye's love: My PM buddy and fellow Shifu/OC shipper. **

**Anonymouse78: My real life supporter.**

**D: The Deng lover.**

**Duskfire 1954 and shadow-dog18: The nice ones.**

**And **

**SHIFUFANGIRL1: What can I say? She (or he, though the GIRL part sounds suspiciously feminine) deemed me one of the best writers on the site. *sniff***

**If I have failed to mention you, feel perfectly free to let me know.**

**Well I'm sure that those of you who are still reading this might be asking questions like 'Did Taia and Shifu officially get together?', 'What's going to happen with the kids being at the Palace', and 'Why in the heck was there so little of Viper, Crane, and Monkey?'**

**Well: I DON'T KNOW!**

**I'm thinking about writing a sequel, but it's really not the most important thing right now, because I have homework, GAG! So I guess if you want me to I can continue, but it's really out of my hands at the moment. **

**Oh, one more special mention: To my mom, who has proof read every single chapter before I sent it out, even when she was exhausted. Also for putting up with my moody crap whenever I had writer's block. Thank you!**

**You know the drill ladies and gentleman. And the reason I ask for reviews isn't for popularity purposes; it's because I CRAVE to know what other's think about this stuff. So go ahead, leave a review, and tell me what you think! IAT, out.**


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